With No Luck, Snakes Return
by SharpAngels
Summary: Madness. No one fully comprehends the power such a thing can bring, but when Medusa uses it to ensure the Shibusen students never interfere again, they end up in a new world with new dangers, new memories, and most importantly, new faces.
1. Chapter 1

All righty! Got that whole collection thing sorted out. (Grr. I never want to read any of those again.) And I do apologize to those of you that read it, I needed a placeholder and that was all I could find.  
>ANYWAYS. Soul Eater and Bleach, fun stuff.<p>

(And no x-rays for SharpAngels, those of you who've seen my fictionpress (same pen name) and have heard. So I'm still having issues typing so I apologize if there are any mistakes I missed.)

And this is only a placeholder too. I'm actually thinking about rewriting this. If you think otherwise, tell me, but other than that, I will.

* * *

><p>Prologue:<br>_Only the sound of clicking heels could be heard in the pitch-black darkness of the ruined laboratory as a small girl hefted a large briefcase through the rubble. Even through the blackness, she knew where to step and expertly maneuvered the maze-like halls, briskly walking on the patchy linoleum floors and ducking the low ceilings._

_ The girl kept walking through the dark and the silence until she came to a large cavern amongst the rubble. Unless you knew it was there, the small crack of an entrance was near impossible to find. But once you found that, you'd be shocked as to what was beyond it._

_ A brightly lit lab with beakers and test-tubes scattered everywhere lay just beyond the destruction, painful on the eyes after so long in the dark._

_ "I assume your mission was a success."_

_ The girl turned to a woman sitting cross-legged on the ground, crystal ball glowing mutedly in front of her. Snakelike eyes bored into the girls, making her slightly uncomfortable, but she ignored it._

_ "Yes. The madness reacted just as you said."_

_ The woman chuckled darkly, an evil smile spreading across her face. "Good." Quietly, the woman stood and strode over to the unnoticeably frightened girl, running a hand down the girl's arm until it reached the briefcase. "Now all we need is to lure out the Shibusen students."_

_ The girl smiled shyly. "I think I know just the way to do it, too."_

* * *

><p>Chapter One: Medusa Returns<p>

"_Why_ did you take this mission, Maka?" Soul grumbled, hands behind his spiky white head as he loped ahead of Maka. Death City sprawled ahead of them as they patrolled the streets for signs of kishin, moon smiling as always overhead. Everything had been really quiet since Asura was destroyed, save for the weak kishin melees every once in a while.

"Because it was for some good extra credit." She sighed, slightly annoyed at Soul for being so whiney. "That and I need to get you souls."

"YAHOO!"

Both looked up to see Black*Star freefalling down to them, grinning like an idiot as his blue hair whipped around his face. The ground trembled as he landed heavily in front of Soul, hi-fiving the other idiot's hand.

"Black*Star, that was dangerous!" Tsubaki called from a balcony up high, face concerned for her partner's safety, ponytail dangling down as her blue eyes searched for any signs of an injury.

"Not for a great star like me!" He laughed arrogantly, hands on his hips, unharmed.

"What are you doing here?" Maka asked, sighing in exasperation. Why did she purposefully put up with them sometimes?

"We accepted the patrolling mission." Black*Star puffed up his ego like that was some sort of an accomplishment. Then he thought for a minute. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"For the patrolling mission." Soul said, scratching his head for a minute. They all fell silent, thinking and wondering what was going on when—

"Hi guys!"

All of them looked towards Liz and Patty standing on either side of an apathetic Kid, Liz scowling at her nails and Patty smiling like a four-year-old.

"Liz? Patty? Kid? What are you doing here?" Maka asked, though in her heart she knew how they'd respond.

Death the Kidd was the first to respond. "A teacher recommended the patrol mission for us. Why," He sighed. "I don't know. It's more of a hassle, really."

Maka stayed quiet for a while, thinking when Black*Star started shouting. "So you all are here to steal my spotlight?"

"Shut up, Black*Star!" Maka hit his head with the book that seemed to mysteriously appear. "Something's fishy. Why would they send out three groups for a one-man mission?"

"Because you meddlesome students always get in the way."

Everyone's heads snapped to the source of the hissing voice as a smirking Medusa hovered on a broomstick over their heads. Her blonde hair framed her evil smile perfectly as everyone stared in shock, horror and rage.

"Medusa!" Maka tensed, anger shaking her whole body. Why? Why was she alive? She could distinctly remember slicing Medusa with Genie Hunter. Genie Hunter destroys whatever evil it touches. So how was this possible?

"It's nice to see you again." Medusa brushed off Maka's anger as if it were a fly buzzing around her face—noticeable, but not important. The menacing smirk slipped off her face, replaced by an annoyed frown as her snakelike eyes grazed over all the students. "Sorry I can't stay and chat, but I have a city to take over."

"Not if I have something to say about it! Soul!" Maka barked at her partner who, with a nod, transformed into a scythe while everyone else prepared for battle.

Soul gleamed in the low light while Tsubaki and Black*Star slipped into the night's darkness. Kid readied the Death cannons, Liz and Patty's voices ringing through the night as everyone waited with bated breath for the battle to begin.

"Resonance stable." Patty called.

"Noise level at one point two percent." Liz answered.

"Feedback in five…"

"Four…"

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One. Ready to fire!" Patty finished as Kid slammed the Death Cannons into firing position.

"Oh, no. I'm not here to fight." Medusa lifted her hands in a mockery of surrender, evil grin finding its way back to her face. "Just to make sure you never get in my way again."

A loud whooshing noise pulled their attention from the witch long enough to see a gap in space itself, darker than the night as it aimlessly pulled air and debris into its massive mouth. Maka let out a gasp as she felt herself being pulled in, Black*Star looking for anything to grab a hold of. Kid dug the Death Cannons into the ground in an attempt to slow his demise.

"Well, I'll see you never!" Medusa called, but their attention was entirely fixed on the black hole. "Vector Arrow."

Arrows shot at everyone, aimed for strategic points—Kid, the ground he was clinging to; Black*Star, the lamppost he managed to snag and Maka, her feet.

And Medusa watched in despicable joy as all of them were sucked in, kicking and screaming all the way.

* * *

><p>"Are they all right? They fell from really high up." Kid heard, as if through water. His head felt heavy, eyelids cemented shut.<p>

"I'm sure they're fine. Didn't Orihime heal them?"

"Well, yeah, but still. One of them was injured beforehand." Slowly, he felt feeling return to his body, mind sluggishly clearing.  
>"Yeah, I know. She's got that girl."<p>

"Good. I hope she didn't bleed on the floors."

"That's really what you're worried about?"

Death the Kid's consciousness started to return to him. His golden eyes opened slowly to a wooden ceiling, and as he sat—slowly, of course, his agility and speed felt as if it had been drained from his body—he found he was in a Japanese-styled room, rice paper walls surrounding him. The futon beneath him was soft and warm; he must have been out for a while.

But, the most important thing at the moment were the two people standing in the doorway—the two people he initially missed in his assessment of the room. He must really be out of it.

"Oh. You're up." The orange haired guy said, brown eyes boring into Kid's. He stood just inside the room, leaning lightly against the rice paper wall, posture screaming confidence and nonchalance. The other man stood at the opposite side of the room; his face was hidden by a white-and-green straw hat, save for a smirk. He wore a billowing kimono and wooden clogs that clacked loudly on the floor as he walked over to Kid. Kid, however, was not so casual. He didn't know who these people were, where he was, or why he was here to begin with.

Not to mention the room wasn't symmetrical.

A dresser stood on one side of the room and not the other and the futon was up against the wall.

"You are a disgrace." Kid snarled, taking both guys by surprise. "How could you ignore symmetry like this?"

"Sounds like Kid's up." Liz's voice called from just beyond the rice paper door.

"Yeah. And I guess I'm glad he doesn't have us around to shoot them." Patty said then laughed like a little girl. "'Cause then this house would end up like Anubis."  
>Kid stood for a minute, face unreadable before he walked to a corner and dropped to his knees. The aura of depression was tangible as he banged on the floor. "I'm garbage. I'm asymmetrical garbage. I shouldn't live. I'm a disgrace…"<p>

Both men just stood there, watching Kid's little depression fest for a while until Liz and Patty walked in and began to console him.

"So Kid woke up when the Great Black*Star decided to grace him with his presence!" Everyone ignored how Black*Star referred to himself in the third person and focused on the fact that he was, in fact, awake as he stormed arrogantly into the room, cocky smile on his face.

"But Black*Star, you woke up _after _Kid." Tsubaki walked into the room after him, fidgeting with her ponytail.

"What?" Black*Star thundered then wheeled on Kid, lifting him by the suit jacket. "Are you trying to steal my show? _Well?_"

"I'm garbage. Worse than garbage. I'm a dishonor to the Death God name." Kid wailed as Black*Star shook him rather violently.

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki rushed in to Kid's aid, but was brushed off by Black*Star.

"_OKAY!_" The man in the hat shouted, everyone pausing to stare at him in silence. "Can you all stop fighting long enough to answer a few questions?"

Kid snapped out of his symmetry-tantrum and brushed off Black*Star's grip with ease. Straightening his coat to its perfect symmetry, he eyed the man again, this time with distrust. "But first, who are you? Where are we? And where are Maka and Soul?" Straightforward and right-to-the-point, he stared unwaveringly at both of the mysterious men, both of which fidgeted at the mention of Maka's name.

"I'm Ichigo," The orange haired male piped up after a long and awkward silence then pointed to the other. "And that's Urahara. You're in his shop."

"As for your friends… we figured we'd let you all wake up before explaining." Urahara started walking out the door before he threw a glance back and waved for them all to follow. "The white haired one is still sleeping."

Everyone followed him into the next room over, standing nervously in the doorway as he dropped to his knees and patted the futons in the room for no reason. At least that's what they thought. It wasn't until he pulled a futon out that they realized 'oh, so he was actually looking for something.'

After a long ladder journey down, several hurtful comments and a couple times of Black*Star foolishly shaking the ladder, everyone stood, staring at the rocky desert hidden under the small shop with wonder, amazement and the tiny thought in the back of their heads going 'is this legal…?'

Urahara waved for them to follow again; all walked in silence—even Black*Star—and followed without any complaints.

"Here we are." Behind one of the rocks was Soul, sleeping on a futon next to Maka encased in a field of some sort, another girl they didn't know leaning over Maka intently.

"What's going on?" Liz, who had been silent most of this time, looked at Urahara in confusion. Why were they down here?

"The boy—his name was Soul, right? Well anyways, he was fine." Ichigo spoke instead of Urahara. "But the girl—Maka—was hurt pretty badly."

"What?" Kid, Liz, Patty, Black*Star and Tsubaki all shouted then moved closer to see what was wrong. At first glance, she seemed fine except for an array of shallow cuts on her calves, but when they looked closer, they all gasped.

Partially hidden by her coat was a stab wound near her heart, likely from the run-in with Medusa.

But Black*Star wasn't smart enough to figure that out.

"You hurt Maka." His face was tilted to the ground, so no one could see his expression, but his anger was causing his whole body to shake. Black*Star snapped his head up, eyes burning with fury and a snarl on his face.

"Wait! Black*Star!" Tsubaki fretted, trying to calm his anger until:

"Enchanted Sword mode."

All the Shibusen students tensed at his words, making Ichigo and Urahara scratch their heads a bit.

"Black*Star, wait!" Tsubaki cried, trying to convince him otherwise. "It wasn't them—"

"Enchanted. Sword. Mode." He snarled, an evil look in his eye when Black*Star snapped his attention to a confused, irritated and pissed Ichigo. "You'll pay."

Ichigo's face said he'd be all too happy to smash in his face.

"Ichigo?" Urahara called; Ichigo made no move to look at him as he was too busy staring the arrogant bastard down, so he went on.

"Go ahead."


	2. Chapter 2

Hi guys (and gals) how's it going...?  
>AH! DON'T KILL ME! *RUNS AWAY*<br>No, I won't run away. In the midst of my first year at high school, I... kinda forgot to update. I am SO sorry that you guys are the ones with the short end of the stick... but to make up for it, when I saw the first draft of this chapter I was all like "Hey, to make up for not updating, I'm gonna DOUBLE this chapter."  
>Haha, yeah, I wish. That wasn't the reason. The first draft was only 699 words long and I was REALLY like "Yeah, no." So I made it longer :3<br>Anyways, _Read_,_ Review_ and _**Enjoy**_! (OR HATE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE . JEEZ THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED GOOGLE TRANSLATE!)

* * *

><p>The tension within the seemingly-endless weighed down the air to the point it was nearly tangible. Grey eyes bored into brown and vice-versa as the two stared each other down. Black*Star had his arms crossed lazily over his chest arrogantly, Ichigo tensed for a fight and sizing Black*Star up.<br>"Urahara? If you'd be so kind." Ichigo called over his shoulder, relaxing some. It seemed he didn't see Black*Star as much of a threat. And everyone knows he doesn't like that.  
>"What? Now you gotta ask for help from you wussy friend over there?" Black*Star taunted condescendingly, trying to provoke the both of them for a fight—you could almost see the irk mark on their foreheads as they turned to the resident idiot.<br>"Oh. Now you die." Ichigo ate up the bait as if it were the only food in the ridiculously sized desert—Urahara maintained calm, but only barely as he tossed Ichigo a little white pill.  
>"I think it wise to kick his ass now." Urahara smiled under the brim of his hat; everyone except for Black*Star shivered under the menacing aura he was emitting. Can such a cheerful person really be so… scary?<br>In one fluid motion, Ichigo snatched the pill out of the air and tossed it into his mouth as he split into two…?  
>No, one was dressed in a kimono, a serious look on his face as he swiftly pulled out an abnormally sized cleaver-sword, the other on his knees, rubbing his head.<br>"Aw, Ichigo, where's Onii-san?" Instantly his voice was so much more annoying; it was the same voice, but… different as it kept throwing out complaints about 'being rude' and 'no things around.'  
>"Shut it Kon." Ichigo Number One snapped at Ichigo Number TwoKon, eyes irritated. "Just take care of my body."  
>"Fine." Kon pouted, standing rather clumsily.<br>"Alright. Time to kick some ass." Ichigo smiled darkly, lifting his sword level to Black*Star's heart.  
>In the time Ichigo started charging in to begin the battle, Black*Star had only long enough to tell Tsubaki to change and raise the Enchanted sword to block a colossal attack-one that left the Great Black*Star bowing his back to keep the cleaver away from it's dangerously close proximity to his neck. Ichigo looked as if he was barely breaking a sweat; he looked surprised that the annoying kid could block his attack, but it didn't mean he was using his full strength.<br>"Good block." Ichigo tossed out through clenched teeth, staring at the small, tattooed boy with an amplified distaste. "But I don't think you can do it again."  
>Black*Star grunted and pulled away, flipping silently through the air and away from Ichigo. "I'm the Great Black*Star. I can do anything."<br>All of the Shibusen student's groaned at his idiocy.  
>"So that means the Great Black*Star can <em>lose<em>." Ichigo taunted, throwing fuel on the flames. The Shibusen students-including Black*Star stared at him a little strange. He seemed... different from before. Before, he was passive, he was quiet, he was kind.  
>Now, however, he really looked like he wanted to heave Black*Star's head off. What a change.<br>"Nope. The Great Black*Star keeps going until he wins!" Black*Star put his hands on his hips, laughing boisterously and cockily.  
>"Shut up and fight, if you're going to be stupid!" Kid shouted over to Black*Star, rolling his caramel eyes. "Honestly."<br>"What was that?" Black*Star thundered, rounding on him with a snarl. Kid sighed and pointed to just over Black*Star's shoulder where Ichigo held his cleaver a hair's breadth from the exposed skin at Black*Star's neck. The black metal gleamed in the fake sunlight as Black*Star's breath caught in his throat.  
>"We didn't hurt your friend, all right?" Ichigo hissed, pressing his blade to Black*Star's skin, minute traces of blood slipping from the sharp metal. "We <em>found <em>her like that, alright?"  
>"Huh?" Dumbfounded, Black*Star jumped sharply away from the blade.<br>"That's what we were trying to tell you." Tsubaki said shyly from her Enchanted Sword mode; Black*Star looked oddly embarrassed as Ichigo slid his sword back into it's gauze holder.  
>"Oh..."<br>"What's going on here?" A disgruntled, sleep-laden voice called as Soul stood and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  
>"Soul!" The Shibusen students shouted, glomping on the cranky weapon with an over-exuberance lost on him.<p>

"Seriously, Maka's injured, Black*Star's fighting, we're in a giant desert and this just isn't cool." Soul grumbled, irritated. All the Shibusen students shook their heads exasperatedly at his obsession with the cool.

"Yes, but her injuries are nearly healed." A soft voice murmured; they turned to the red haired girl quietly working over Maka with the strange barrier.

"So _that's_ what you're doing…" Patty laughed, scratching her head while Liz groaned.

"Yes, and as an afterthought," Urahara smiled. "If I could kill that little bastard, everything should be fine."

"Who's the bastard?" Black*Star began laughing again while everyone facepalmed.

"Hey, I think Maka's coming to." Kid eyed the stirring girl as each person turned to eye her with concern.

"Nn…" Her green eyes stared first at the Shibusen group then wandered to all of the unknown faces. "Wait, what's going on?"

"Maka, this is Urahara, Ichigo and…" Death the Kid started, stalling on the red-haired girl's name.

"Orihime."

"And when we went through the madness, we wound up here." He concluded apathetically.

"The only thing that I don't get is where's 'here'?" Liz glared at the desert rocks in confusion.

"Karakura Town." Ichigo stated simply.

"Okay…" Maka said slowly, processing everything. She attempted to stand when she lost her balance and fell once more.

"Don't try to move quite yet!" Orihime whined. "You're still hurt."

"…Right."

An awkward silence held those few minutes with an iron grip; not even the Great Black*Star had the willpower to break it. So as each respective group stared each other down, grey eyes boring into brown, caramel into silver, red eyes eyeing the straw hat, the tensions between everybody grew exponentially.

"Would you knock it off?" An obnoxious shout echoed through the rocky canyons from the top of the fake desert. Everyone's gazes snapped to the top of the ladder where a man with scarlet red hair and a black suit began descending the ladder, followed closely by a man with a stitchy lab coat and oddly silver hair despite his young age.

The Shibusen students froze. Maka's expression turned to that of horror as her eyes befell the most scarring, terrible sight her eyes could ever see.

"Death Scythe? Dr. Stein?" Her voice shook while the Karakura Town residents again fell into a deep confusion.

"You should probably be trying to find a way out of here. Not staring each other down." Stein condescended emotionlessly.

"Yeah." Death Scythe nodded as if he knew what his partner was talking about. "What he said."

"How in the hell did you get here?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hey there again... Ehehe... you probably thought I died or something... No. Just got SUPER side tracked by school. Fun stuff.

Anyways. To make up for my absence, I decided to combine TWO CHAPTERS. Just to keep you busy :D

Well, whatever. Have fun. RR&E.

(BTW, didn't edit. SO if I missed something, please tell me. I wanted to get you guys this, raw or not.)

(And to the person who reviewed with ideas... I'll get there. I just have to make a point first. They'll start appearing next chapter... Maybe. ;) )

* * *

><p>Maka looked pissed. Not just mad, not angry but downright murder-a-puppy <em>pissed<em>. "What are _you_ doing here?" She hissed the words with a heavy and blatant distaste and malice, glaring razor-sharp daggers Death Scythe's way. He stared woundedly at his irate daughter, adult face contorted into a childish pout.

"Don't worry, Maka! Daddy will make you feel better!" Death Scythe smiled sappily, running at his daughter with a rejected father's vigor. A strange feeling of flowers and happy things seemed to ooze from this 'death scythe' like his ridiculousness did—suffocating and sickening.

She turned her gaze from the idiot father, ignoring his stupid antics. Death Scythe froze mid-stride, caught in Maka's below-freezing cold attitude before falling flat on his pathetic face, sobbing about how he "wanted his baby girl back." Maka's focus seemed to return back to its rightful place—the Shibusen student's current situation. Her eyes slipped over the collapsed, moronic Death Scythe and rested on Stein. "Where are we, Dr. Stein? What's going on?"

Stein cleared his throat, pushing his round glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well, I don't know much more than any of you, besides that this was set up by Medusa."

Just the mention of Medusa's name made the Shibusen student's tense—it made Maka clench the ground she was subjected to be healed on in her small hands, rough rocks scraping her skin.

"Who's this 'Medusa' lady? She an enemy?" Ichigo slung the dull edge of his sword onto his shoulder with nonchalance, eyeing the doctor with interest only in a fight.

"She's more than that." Death Scythe recovered from his sobbing fit, straightening his tie and brushing the tear-stained dirt off his jacket. "She almost destroyed Death City. She released the most threatening and fierce... monster from its skin cage. She nearly killed Lord Death himself."

Ichigo pretended like he understood what and who he was talking about. "So she's pretty damn evil. And she sent you here? Sounds like she'd try to kill you."

"I think it has something to do with what she said before the Madness brought us here." Soul spoke after a long and thoughtful silence, much too uncharacteristic for him. "She said something like 'I'm here to make sure you don't get in my way.' I think she _needs_ us all for something."

"Or she's too lazy to kill us." Black*Star pitched in as thoughtfully as his small brain could manage. Every one groaned at the class idiot.

"It's not going to do us much good pondering over something we don't know about." Kid threw out after a _very_ long silence, containing mainly plans of the best way to assassinate an assassin idiot. He eyed Urahara rather trustingly—or as trustingly as was possible considering the man had something funny about him and let his ginger lackey try to kill Black*Star. (Which in hindsight, no one would have minded but Excalibur.) "Do you have any accommodations you could offer us?"

"I suppose I could dig something up here..." Urahara mused. "I have about four spare futons and three extra rooms."

"I could take somebody." Ichigo threw out. (Everyone hoped he ended {up with} Black*Star.)

"I could take three people if it helps." Orihime offered kindly, smiling warmly at everybody in an absent-minded sort of way.

"Listen, we really appreciate you helping us out—" Maka didn't get to finish her goody two shoes list of thanks. A loud, thunderous roar ripped through the entire desert, followed by heavy, forceful stomp. The Shibusen kids looked at the sky/ceiling with a mix of surprise and fear; it wasn't going to collapse on them... will it?

"Sounds like a hollow." Ichigo groaned like a kid being asked to do chores. "What a pain in the ass."

"Well, now is as good a time as any to take care of it." A smirk spread across Urahara's face under the ever-hiding straw hat. He knew something no one else did. And no one really cared enough to do anything about it because a loud, shrill, and bone-chilling scream rang from right where this 'hollow' was.

No one would be able to explain to you their reaction. Not even Ichigo or Urahara, whom actually resided in Karakura Town. The scream seemed to shake something loose from everybody—likely common sense. Choruses of feet hitting the earth filled the enormous cavern like the pounding of rain on the roof as everyone ran at the drop of a hat to the ladder.

It was dark and cloud free. Beautiful blue skies, a humongous and grotesque monster where the sun should be...

It was nothing like any kishin the Shibusen student's had ever seen, yet it had much similar soul wavelengths as one. Evil pulsed out of the monster like a steady and incessant beat, overwhelming their dulled, relaxed senses. Its power felt on-par with Asura's; heady and obnoxious but not even closely resembling a human. Its long, inhuman fangs dripped with a menacing crimson, pulled into a snarl on its gruesome face—face in loose definitions. Its eyes were sunken, fully bathed in scarlet with a pupil-less gaze. Scaly, cracked skin draped over its dinosaur-like bones like a loose cloth, oozing with grime and goop no one wanted to take a stab at.

Ichigo didn't look near as fearful as the Shibusen students; his eyes were filled to the brim with shock, as if someone were clasped in the jaws of that ugly thing.

No, but someone was right in the monster's gaze.

She was tall and wiry, messy black hair with red tips spiking out in odd angles, hiding her face. A thin arm was wrapped tightly around her stomach, red bleeding through the white of her tee shirt, crimson tears spilling over the white skin. Her jeans were caked with mud, as were her bare feet, as if she had been running for miles on end.

Ichigo didn't think; he rushed in, cleaver held high over his head and gleaming like a guillotine poised over the exposed skin of a sinner's neck, sliding through the air with ease as it condemned the prisoner to its bloody fate.

He wheeled on the girl. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, backing away from him slowly.

"H-hey! I won't hurt you!" Ichigo reached a helpless hand towards the quickly fleeing girl. "Damn it."

"Shouldn't you go find her?" Tsubaki said meekly, the thought her opinions would be written off clear on her face.

"I should..." Ichigo said, running a hand through his ginger hair. "But it's useless right now. I'm probably gonna have to send Rukia after her."

"Who's Rukia?"

"Never mind that." Stein cut in, deftly rolling up the cuffs of his lab coat and eyeing Urahara with an odd distaste. "What was that monster we just saw, Urahara?"

Urahara chuckled darkly, hat concealing his face once more. "You have kishin. We, however have hollows."

Soul jumped a bit at his words. "_That_ was a _hollow_?"

"It seemed about as strong as Asura and Ichigo destroyed _that_ in one swoop..." Kid said, voice a steaming pot of horror, awe and disappointment. "We barely survived Asura..."

Black*Star seemed stunned into submission. For once, he didn't speak; he nodded weakly, face clammy and pale.

"Well. It seems it may be a good thing we're here then." Death Scythe muttered dejectedly—even he and Lord Death himself struggled with Asura. "This may be a good place to train."

Maka shook her head angrily. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. We're too weak to defeat Medusa as-is at this rate." Her eyes flashed with a dangerous hatred, hot as a poker freshly pulled from a kiln.

"Yeah. It wouldn't be _too _bad to train here..." Liz stated through shock, pulling off her roughly-stitched cowboy hat and running an anxious hand through her hair.

Ichigo seemed very surprised at their entire conversation. "You mean you guys couldn't even take care of the _weakest_ hollow?"

A silence befell the group with a twinge of despair. Kid looked at his dutiful partners, feeling a rise of failure in his mind. Maka's eyes slipped to the ground, fists clenched into tight, white balls, tears of chagrin and defeat burning in her furious emerald eyes. She kept her gaze as far from Soul as possible, inadequacy firmly set on her view of everything they've done or thought they accomplished.

That was Black*Star's final straw.

"YOU WEAK-ASS FAILURES!" He shouted at the Shibusen sulkers, face outraged. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING HERE AND CRYING?"

Maka's head snapped up, teeth grinding in rage. Black*Star went on.

"GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR AND START TRAINING!"

Something in Maka broke. It seemed like reason, or patience but whatever it was, it unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, all aimed for vital points in Black*Star's arrogant body. Who was he, the one who _lost_ in a _stupid fight_ to say anything? He should be training harder! He shouldn't be making comments.

Maka roared in rage, feeling her tight, white-knuckled grip on her emotions falling off, but she was too far into it to care. "You JACKASS!"

Attacks kept flying towards Black*Star, who was apparently still tired from the battle; some of the attacks were actually landing. Not just landing, but _injuring_.

"Maka! Stop!" Soul began trying to reason with her fury, reaching a hand towards her murderous rage when she snarled like an animal at him. He noticed.

"What the hell? Her eyes are _red!_" He staggered back, not knowing what to do at all. It was so bizarre seeing the calm, collected one flying off the handle so abruptly—or even at all. He'd only seen this kind of behavior twice before, and that was when she was swallowed deep in madness, suffocating her reason to the point of absurdity.

"Oh my God." He whispered. Understanding flowed into him with a torrent of cold fear. She'd kill Black*Star at this rate, no matter how strong he was. "We gotta subdue her!"

"On it~" Urahara sing-songed, happy smile painted on his face despite the situation. What a sadist... With a flash of a syringe, he stabbed it in her neck with a scary precision; she was out, dropping like a sack.

"You're just like Stein." Kid muttered harshly.

* * *

><p>"What happened back there?" Ichigo asked, eyeing Soul out of the corner of his eye.<p>

"Madness." Was all he replied. He was too on edge to say much more; being sent away from his partner at a time like _this_ was just absurd, but it _was _necessary. Black*Star and Kid were staying at Urahara's, along with Maka and the extra space was needed for the girl they saw earlier. Liz, Tsubaki and Patty were all with Orihime doing God-knows-what who-knows-where. Soul? He was stuck with the expressionless man and that just wasn't cool.

"...What's that?"

Soul sighed. It was like talking to a four year old, too young to know about the darker side of Death City. "It's the craziness inside of everybody. We thought Maka's was under control, but..." His mind wandered back to the murderous intent.

"Does this have something to do with that Medusa?" Ichigo was somewhat interested—or as interested as a perpetually bored guy like him could be.

Soul looked at him blankly. How did he not see that before? Maka was perfectly fine (albeit still flat—nothing could fix that, it seemed) before the run in with that evil snake, now she's gone off the deep end for who-knows-how-long. "I think you're right. But I'm the wrong person to talk to. You should probably ask Kid or Stein. Maybe even Death Scythe."

Ichigo nodded slowly, sliding into a swivel chair positioned in front of a clean, mess-and-paper free desk, sitting in front of a bleak bed in a poster less room. Did this guy have _any _interests? "So what's the deal with that Tsubaki? She turned into a _sword_. That's not normal."

Soul laughed for the first time since he was dragged into this 'adventure.' "Here I'll show you."

It was so familiar to him; switching himself into his other form, into a scythe. Soul watched with amused eyes as Ichigo's eyes went wide, staring at Soul's glistening and _sharp_ arm. He couldn't do a full transformation right now: for one, he starts spinning _every time_ and so far, only Maka's been able to catch him and two, he didn't know if he wanted to show this guy _everything _quite yet... better for him to be immensely impressed then for him to know what was going to happen.

"Whoa."

The moonlight caught the razor sharp blade with ease, sliding up the steel surface with greed. "There's the meisters like Maka and Kid. Then there's their weapons. That's us." He let the gleaming weapon disappear, replacing it with his boring arm once more.

"We just have our zanpakatous." Ichigo whistled. "And without Kon, I can't show you it."

"Who's Kon?"

His face seemed to turn annoyed; obviously he didn't hold Kon in high regards. "He's like a lab soul you can eat to force your own out of your body."

"Why would you want to do that?" Soul slumped onto the dull bed, eyeing Ichigo worriedly. And he thought turning into a weapon wasn't normal.

"I'm something called a Soul Reaper." The ginger let his eyes flick over to the window, unfocused. "Normally it's only dead people. I'm just weird that way, so I have to use Kon to force my soul out to fight."

"I see." Soul said distantly, not quite understanding at all but not particularly fond of seeming daft to Ichigo. Maka would've understood.

Maka's insane right now.

He bit his lip with the sharp teeth all too familiar to him. Soul should have somehow protected Maka, but it all happened too fast, he wasn't sure what even occurred. There were the Vector Arrows, aimed for Maka's feet. He knew that much. But he never once saw one going for _Maka_.

Weird.

The window slid open with no warning what-so-ever; Soul jumped up, readying a scythe-arm when Ichigo waved him off.

"Rukia, don't keep coming through the window. I have a _door_." He seemed irate as he glared out into the night sky, brown eyes narrowing. Soul eyed him like he was crazy—talking to no one like that—until a small girl hopped nimbly into the room. Her hair was as black as the night she stepped from and as black as the billowing kimono in the night-time breeze, azure eyes trained professionally on the ginger.

"We found the girl." She spoke, voice full of force. If Soul hadn't known any better, he would have said this was a _guy,_ not a small, weak looking girl.

"Condition?" Ichigo remained sitting, waving for Soul to follow suit—with many grumbled and a long, muttered string of curses, he complied—as he looked morosely at Rukia. Such a peculiar expression on him.

"She wasn't hurt all that badly..." They all knew bad news was coming. "But she _did _run and she _did _lose a lot of blood..."

There was no accusatory statement, but Rukia and Soul both knew Ichigo was blaming himself for the girl's condition. "Damn it!" His fist slammed onto the desk with a thunderous _bang,_ teeth grit into a snarl.

"It's not your fault." She tried to console the enraged Ichigo, but no dice.

"If I hadn't taken out the hollow..."

"She'd be dead." Soul said bluntly, eyeing the ginger with a passive gaze. "Stop worrying. She'll be fine, with or without your guilt."

These words were directed at Ichigo and himself—he couldn't help but feel responsible for Maka's condition. If he had seen something, maybe he could have helped her. But really, there was no use feeling sorry for himself. It's not like it would make Maka better.

"So suck it up you pansy."


	4. Chapter 4

Why, hello again, my poor, starved readers... Yeah. Sorry. I'm kind of an emotional wreck right now. My German student teacher passed away this morning and I'm still kind of numb. So, I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit more somber (even though I worked at trying to make it funny... ;_; )

Well now... I would like to say one thing. I'm gonna start employing a LOVELY policy of asking for reviews (SPAMMING FOR REVIEWS. I THINK I MEANT TO TYPE THAT. :D ) so I would like to ask if you favorite this story or put it on a subscription PLEASE leave a review... I feel sad that I have, like, ten. And the traffic stats say I STILL (even after SO MUCH TIME {SORRY}) have more reads than that a day. Even if yous is just readin this and you think it sucks (WHY WOULD YOU STILL BE READING THEN...) SAY SO. PLEASE? Kay.

Carry on.

**EDIT: You people make me sad. Seriously. As of now, I will not update until I get at least ONE review. :'(**

* * *

><p>"She's <em>fine<em>." Urahara seemed cranky—a normally happy-go-lucky bastard needs his eight hours to be a happy-go-lucky bastard it seemed. He had even forgone the straw hat he used to hide his smug or stupid expressions; Urahara's wild blonde hair stuck up as if someone had electrocuted him.

"I still want to see her." Ichigo tried to push past Urahara to enter the shop, but Urahara side-stepped in front of him, green eyes boring sleepily into brown.

"Can't it wait until morning?" Urahara reminded everybody of a whiny teenager asking for five more minutes.

Orange hair swayed as Ichigo shook his head. "No. I have some questions."

"All right, fine—"

A loud crash cut Urahara off; everyone turned in shock as that same girl came running towards the group, icy blue eyes frantic. Her tee shirt was as drenched with blood as Ichigo could remember, but this time it seemed her injury was healed. Thank you, Orihime.

"I can't stand it!" She yelled, almost on the edge of a break down. "Who ever gave birth to that... that... _thing_ should be condemned!"

"C-calm down!" Urahara contended to placate her even though he was still cranky. "What's wrong?"

"The blue haired one!" The girl sobbed, panicking. "He's driving me crazy!"

"How—"

"Why were you running from the Great Black*Star?" An exceedingly annoying voice thundered out from behind the girl; her face went white as she made a move to run again.

"No, no, no." Ichigo stepping in front of the girl, frowning at 'The Great Black*Star.' "You can't leave quite yet. We still have some questions."

She glared at Ichigo like he was the devil. "Fine." Her answer was clipped—obviously, she wasn't too happy about the prospect of being around Black*Star much longer.

"You get used to him?" Soul tried—all he earned was a dirty look.

"What's your name?" Ichigo eyed the girl's crystalline blue with focus; she sighed.

"My name's Severene." Severine flipped black and red hair out of her face. At any given moment, it seemed as if she was copping an attitude, but for some reason that just didn't quite fit her. It appeared, to Soul at least, that she was really uncomfortable.

"Why were you hurt?" It was like an interrogation without the rickety chair and the glaring light.

"I was looking for my partner." Severene glanced past Ichigo, eyes scanning for something—or someone. "He disappeared after we were sucked into this weird black-hole type thing."

Black hole? Was she talking about the Madness?

"How long ago was this?" His question was sharp; Ichigo had the same thought as Soul did.

"A couple days ago?" She tried to think back. "I don't know. I have short-term memory. If we find my partner, he could probably help us."

"Who's your partner?" Soul interjected before Ichigo could fire off another question. If his suspicions were correct, then...

"His name's Drake." She said, almost offhandedly, as she tried again to slip past the iron-wall Ichigo. "Will you let me go now? I have to find him!"

Ichigo shook his head, then turned to Soul. "It seems she might be from the same place you guys are."

Soul mulled this over. Severine and Drake... the names sounded vaguely familiar. "Are you from Shibusen?"

Severine raised a brow. "Of course I am. I'm a meister."

"Really?" Black*Star, who'd been uncharacteristically silent, finally thundered. "Why don't I remember you? I know _everybody_, being the Great Black*Star."

"I'm an upperclassman, you dope!" Severine snapped, immediately pissed once more. "I wouldn't associate myself with the likes of you."

"Woah." Soul whistled, chuckling. "Harsh."

"I agree." Maka voiced from behind Black*Star, stepping around him and over to the very irate upperclassman. "Anyways. We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Maka. You seem to have already met Black*Star, Soul and Ichigo."

"Rukia."

"I'm Urahara." He didn't spare any chivalry for the lady.

"And there are some more inside and elsewhere." Maka finished, smiling warmly at the girl.

"I don't care!" Severine blurted rudely, ivory skin flashing with heat at what she said. "S-sorry. I just have to find him. I-I don't know what..."

Everybody went silent. She seemed to have a bizarre attitude change, from snide to sad. That's quite a jump.

"You should rest and look for him tomorrow—well, I guess later today now." Urahara sighed, obviously trying to switch the focus from her to sleep. "Go. Please."

* * *

><p>Severine was smart, but she really had a short memory life. By the time Ichigo and Soul had rested up and returned, she'd already forgotten their names and even the fact they had met. When they walked into Urahara's shop, she gave them a blank, blue stare.<p>

"We know each other?" Severine scratched her head, trying to remember something that was long gone. "I dunno. I've never met you, have I?"

Ichigo sighed; at least she wouldn't remember getting hurt. "Yeah, but that's okay. I'll introduce myself again."

"Don't bother." Urahara called from another room. Soul and Ichigo turned to watch a _very_ irritated Urahara walk into the room, straw hat still missing. He looked like someone forced him to watch all the Naruto fillers—meaning he had bags under his eyes and a stare that made you think he went to hell and back. "She'll forget."

"Wow." Soul eyed he girl with a mix of pity and curiosity; she was furiously trying to find her partner and she just... forgets?

"Where's Drake?" Severine stared unwaveringly at Ichigo, as if he'd know.

"I... don't know. You were going to find him yesterday." It was like talking to a four-year-old.

"I was?" She stood from her spot, almost drunkenly. "I'll go look, then."

"Not alone, you won't." Ichigo frowned, crossing his tanned arms over his chest. She just eyed him like he was a stalker.

"Then come with, by all means."

"We're coming too." Maka's voice interjected as she stepped out from behind a rice paper door. Her green eyes were weary and exhausted, and her buttons weren't aligned, which was not like Maka at all.

"We are?" Soul looked surprised; Urahara was going to just let her out of the house, considering the freak-out she had earlier?

"Yeah, I think we should get a feel for these enemies." She was still all business aside from the fact she looked like a bus, a train and Black*Star hit her all at once.

"Okay...?"

"Fine." Severine snapped, suddenly very snide. "Just don't hinder me."

* * *

><p>As it turns out, Severine was the hindrance. Every five minutes she'd forget who Ichigo, Maka and Soul were and why they were running in the first place. So every time, she'd just take off in some random direction and keep running until the others chased her down, irritation exponentially increasing.<p>

Finally, Ichigo had enough.

"Stop!" He shook his head disbelievingly at the girl. "Where did you see Drake last?"

"How in the hell is she going to remember that?" Soul knew very well that Severine did _not_ have a short term memory. The bruise forming on his cheek from when he caught her the first time was proof enough. "Not cool, man. Drop it."

"How are we supposed to look for someone who we only know exists and nothing else?" Maka, the master of logic, understood this was a lost cause.

"Yeah..." Severine looked despairingly at the three of them. "I'm sorry guys, really. How about we head back for now, kay?"

"You sure you won't forget and hit me again?" Soul whined, rubbing his sore face with disdain.

* * *

><p>"You've got to be kidding."<p>

Ichigo said aloud what Maka, Soul and Severine were all thinking. This was just plain ridiculous.

"Sorry, Severine." The blonde male sitting awkwardly at the other side of the table grinned apologetically. His brown eyes spoke waves for the kindness he had, as did his sincere voice when he spoke. "I was trying so hard to find you."

"This young man's been going door-to-door to find you." Urahara waved a fan in his face, smug expression telling the search party he _greatly_ enjoyed the irony. "And now you're together again."

Everyone expected Severine to fly off the handle-and frankly, Soul wanted that blonde idiot to feel the wrath of her palm. So everyone, including Drake, was surprised when she squealed gleefully and plodded over to him, wrapping her arms around him in a huge hug.

"Draaaaaaaaaaaake!" She seemed more like a different person than the ruthless slapper everyone had come to know and, well, not necessarily love, but acquaintance with.

"Dear god, did you miss me that much?" He tried to pry her off him, with no success.

"No." In a split second, she disentangled herself, and pulled her hand back for a Severine Special Back-Hand. Drake, however, must have had serious practice with this; when she moved to hit him, he just smoothly caught her wrist and twisted it behind her.

"Yeah, well I'm Drake." He smiled kindly at the other four, saving a glare for Severine and Severine alone. "I assume you have questions...?"

"What happened when you went through the Madness?" Maka blurted out before anyone could even ready a coherent sentence.

"We wound up here." Drake stated simply, keeping his iron grip on the squirming and _furious_ Severine. "I couldn't transform right away, but I gave it an hour."

"You weren't unconscious?"

He shook his head. "No, why?"

"Peculiar." Urahara mused, hiding the only visible piece of his face with his fan. "Maybe she made modifications."

"That would make sense." Severine rasped out between futile struggles. "Maybe whoever did this doesn't want you back for a while."

"Medusa." Maka hissed murderously, as if her tone alone would kill that god-awful snake. "She did this."

Drake dropped his hold on Severine in surprise; Severine was too shocked to hit Drake, so instead, sank shakily to the ground.

"She's still alive?" Drake whispered, eyes wide with fear.

Soul nodded. "Yeah. That chick won't die."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Ichigo said bluntly; everyone looked to him for _some_ sort of explanation. "From what it sounds like, she just won't die no matter how many times you kill her. You sure she's not a cat?"

"We're sure." Kid's voice interjected, his golden eyes boring into Ichigo's brown. "If you see her, you'll know."

He stepped into the room, for once not wearing his suit; instead he donned a simple (and symmetrical) tee shirt and jeans. How in the hell did Urahara work that one out?

"Okay..." Ichigo scratched his head. "She's a snake."  
>"This isn't going to help us figure out a way for you to go back." Urahara pulled the fan away from his serious face. "How did she use the Mad-"<p>

A familiar roar ripped through Urahara's sentence—he looked furious that he was interrupted again—and every one jumped.

"I'll go take care of it." Ichigo groaned irritatedly, pulling the small white pill from his pocket.

"No, hang on Ichi~" Urahara earned a well-deserved dirty look for that. "Let the meister try."

"Me?" Maka pointed blankly at herself; he nodded, smile firm on face.

"I want to see the Shibusen abilities."

"Um... Okay?" She looked almost confused—a bizarre look for Maka—as she silently reached for the already-transforming Soul.

He easily switched to his other form, gleaming bright as a scythe, gleaming with pride at what he was. Ichigo looked thoroughly impressed, as did Urahara, when Maka ran swiftly out the door, unhindered by the heavy weapon she bore.

A new monster stood where the other had before it, brown fur dotted with red. It loosely resembled a monkey, however it had _far_too many legs and hands to be so. A greek theatre mask dyed a dirty white hid it's face from us.

"Something's different about this one." Maka whispered to Soul anxiously; she had no idea what this power was—it felt different than soul wavelength. It felt more rudimentary, more unrefined.  
>"Yeah..." Soul hissed back.<p>

It was true. The power emitting from the monster was... _bigger_. It felt _stronger_than Asura. It felt deadly.

"How are we supposed to fight it?" Maka stared despairingly at the hollow with more than just fear. Her gaze held a conviction of death, even without fighting.

"Don't be fooled!" Drake yelled from the entrance to the shop, brown eyes understanding. "It's just the Madness getting to you!"

"Huh?" Soul called from the scythe. What was _that_supposed to mean?

"Just fight it!"

Maka seemed to still be a bit shaken, but more composed about it. "Soul, if we die, I want you to know..."

"What is it?" Rushing into something that could very well be their death, it must be important.

"I know about the stack of magazines under your mattress." She said bluntly, eyeing the metal with disdain. "You men."

"How did you find out?"

"When Blair is flipping through them for 'outfit ideas,' I get suspicious."

"Oh..." He was going to hit that cat."

"Are you ignoring me?" A rough, gravelly voice interrupted Soul's murder contegencies. "I don't like to be ignored."

"Is... the monster talking?" Maka eyed the monster, who was eyeing her back with annoyed red eyes, with surprise, disbelief and a bit of curiosity.

"I think it is..."

"Have you never seen a talking hollow before?" The hollow laughed boisterously—for some odd reason, it reminded them of Black*Star. "You must be new to this. Better to devour that way."

"Hey! I don't wanna be monster food!" Soul yelled. "It's not cool!"

"Come on Soul. Lets take it down." The similarities to Black*Star might have been motivating the darker side of Maka to kill the hollow.

"Big talk!" It sneered, making a move with one of it's many hand for her to attack. Maka needed no invitation; she rushed in, bringing Soul back. The hollow put out a hand instinctively as she brought the scythe's blade onto his flesh. The crimson of it's blood spattered on the ground as it pulled away with it's many arms minus one. Maka wiped a drop of blood off her face and grinned. This was fun.

Soul could sense the immensity of the monsters power dwindling. Weird.

"It doesn't feel as strong." Maka smiled darkly, clutching Soul tighter in her grasp. "That makes this less fun."

He felt nervous at her comment—that wasn't like Maka at all. Put aside the fact she didn't button her shirt right and tried to kill Black*Star the previous day, this felt more abnormal. Like something evil was stirring in her. Like something _mad_.

"Maka, maybe we should get Ichigo to take care of this." He tried, tentatively trying to pull her out of what ever evil hole she fell into.

Her grin twisted into something more malicious. "No. I want to watch it bleed." Her tone was enough to send arctic shivers along Soul's spine, not to mention the _message_.

"Maka, I really think we should—"

"That's enough, Miss Albarn!" Kid called from the doorway, Liz and Patty, who had _finally _arrived from Orihime's house, were already the shining guns in his hands. "I'll take over for now."

Maka blinked once. Then again. What ever... trance she'd fallen into was shaken off for now. But for how long would it be...?

"You know something, don't you."

"I know that Miss Maka's mindset might not be entirely... stable right now."

"Why are we watching from the sidelines again?"

"I don't want to make a cameo right now. Best to stay hidden and do some recon for now."

"But what about that 'Madness' they keep talking about?"

"I think, what ever it is, it's got some serious power where they come from."

"And why did you let the boy go?"

"He has no ill will."

"I dunno..."

"Well, for him I wanted to wait and see. I need to know he won't harm any of them."

"And the arrancars? What if they get ahold of the newcomers?"

"Then they'll die."

* * *

><p>DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN! Losta unanswered questions~! Why's Maka actin so weird? Who are these suspicious people? And what do they know...?<p>

Stay tuned for the next installment of a crappy fanfic~


	5. Chapter 5

**OMG! I AM SOOOOOOOOO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO BE SO LONG! :O **

Any ways! Here's the next chapter... it's kind of a bonus, but also important.

*DIES* I AM SO SORRY. PS, I'm finally updating my FP too. (WHICH I HAVEN'T DONE FOR OVER A YEAR.) SO it could be worse.

* * *

><p>"What do you <em>mean, <em>you don't know?" Maka barked at a wincing Urahara. He shook his head sadly, hat magically staying in place.  
>"I <em>mean<em> that they went to go survey the hollows in the area and just never came back." His tone was positively nonchalant, and that seemed to set Maka off. She looked about ready to murder Urahara—or anything, for that matter. Her green eyes were worn and frayed, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. The buttons on her shirt were finally aligned, but it didn't seem to make her look any better.  
>"Why, I aughta—"<br>"What I'd like to know," Kid strolled into the room with purpose (as usual), still donning his new and bizarre attire of a tee shirt and jeans, shooting a death glare at Maka. Her anger only seemed to grow as she was interrupted, but it didn't seem to faze Kid whatsoever. "Is how we only noticed this _just now._"  
>At this, Urahara smirked. Not a smile, not a grin, but a creepy, menacing, I-watch-you-when-you-sleep smirk. "I'm very good at... <em>distracting<em> people." He paused thoughtfully. "At least until I can figure out what happened."  
>"Well, what happened then?" Soul interjected, ending his pondering silence.<br>Urahara smiled. Then shrugged carelessly. "I dunno."  
>Maka seemed to snap, then reigned in the fury that, in a split second, coursed through her. She walked leisurely to one of the few bookshelves that lined the far wall and slid a book out from it's dusty home. Tapping the spine, she walked back to Urahara, carefully blank face not portraying any emotion. "Maka... CHOP!"<br>Urahara's head sizzled with the force of her blow as he lay motionless on the ground. Maka returned the book to where it would never get a second glance and flopped back onto a tatami mat. Even that amount of effort seemed to drain her. Soul's lips pulled into a worried frown—and he never worried. Worrying just wasn't cool.  
>"Anyways." Kid coughed, thanking the lucky stars he wasn't on the other end of that book. "We need to find them. With Drake's explanation of what happened with them, we may have enough information to start formulating a plan to get back home."<br>"Can you explain that... with _smaller_ words?" Black*Star's obnoxiously loud voice intruded upon the conversation. The annoyance on Kid's face was clear to everyone _but_ the blue-haired idiot, but complied anyways.  
>"It means we may have found a way home." Kid threw a trademark Death Glare to Black*Star. "That is, if we find Death Scythe and Stein."<br>"Oh, shit, now _they're_ missing?" Ichigo walked into the room (and the conversation), towel around his neck and sweat glistening on the bare skin of his torso. His brows were knitted into irritation. First Little Miss Forget-A-Lot's partner, now the only _brains_ of their group (Stein. Not Death Scythe. Ichigo had the firm notion Death Scythe was about as intelligent as Black*Star.) was missing.  
>"Yeah, but we have no idea where to look—"<br>"We can help you there." Everyone turned to stare at a, _cough_, curvy blonde with oddly friendly grey eyes walk in, wearing a kimono not unlike Ichigo's. She was closely followed by a young looking boy with an old-man's white hair and cold green eyes. He had a peculiar white coat over his kimono and a scowl set firmly on his otherwise cute face.  
>"Toshiro? Rangiku?" Urahara finally seemed to recover from his mortal injury, staring at the youngin with more curiosity than irritation at the fact everyone seemed to be absentmindedly storming his store. "What are you doing here?"<br>Toshiro eyed the hat-wearing man with contempt, green eyes seeming to get annoyed just by the sight of him. "Normally I wouldn't go near this god-forsaken shop," He admitted ruefully. "But you should probably know that Stein and..." Toshiro's brows furrowed as he stalled on the next name.  
>"Death Scythe."<br>"That's a name?" Rangiku blinked in surprise. Toshiro shrugged it off.  
>"...are in the Soul Society."<br>"_Shit!_" Ichigo looked about ready to hit something. (Kid skirted away.) Everyone rested their eyes on him in surprise. "Not _again!_"  
>Toshiro smiled wryly. "At least you can waltz right in there now."<br>"Woah, woah, woah..." Soul raised his hand to stop this weird conversation. "What's up with this... Soul Society thingy?"  
>"They're a group of homicidal maniacs." Ichigo replied flatly; Toshiro just glared at him.<br>"Excuse me?"  
>"Everyone but you." Ichigo amended.<br>"Do you want to go save them?" Toshiro continued hot-headedly.  
>"No."<br>"Hey!" Maka glared at Ichigo.  
>"I couldn't care less if your hug-happy pappy and the creepy ass scientist get killed." Ichigo stared blankly at a fuming Maka, then turned to Toshiro. "But they do. Take them back with you, will you?"<br>"Why should I?" Toshiro glared arctically at Ichigo, green eyes seething with anger.  
>"You guys owe me." Ichigo shrugged half-heartedly, tugging at the towel around his neck. "Seriously, after the whole we're-gonna-make-sure-you-and-your-friends-die thing, I figured you be more open to my requests."<br>Toshiro was quiet for a moment, then turned to Soul (who shrank a little under his serious gaze). "Get your things ready, we're leaving in an hour.

"So... this is the Soul Society?" Kid had his golden eyes rove across the city, back in his usual suit. There were people milling about, clothed in short kimono looking things of varying colors. Houses sprawled across the land, getting progressively bigger the further in you went, the closer you got to the giant building in the center.  
>"Yes." Toshiro still seemed a bit stung by his baby-sitting job. "We need to get to the middle building, which is where they're being he—"<br>A large boom echoed around the city, debris flying from the wall of the large building closest to the group. They stood in shock, staring at the gaping hole with alarm and confusion. But Maka froze. She had heard a faint yell, so familiar...  
>"...Makaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Someone tackled her from behind, sobbing into her shoulder.<br>Soul was about to switch into his scythe... until he saw the distinctive red hair of Death Scythe. "What the hell, Death Scythe. Do you know how close you came to being chopped into little pieces?"  
>"Get-him-OFF!" Maka snarled, pushing at the clingy father, green eyes annoyed and angry. The group stepped away from them.<br>"They were—trying—to dissect me!" Death Scythe clung to his daughter tightly, face going pale. Everyone was suddenly on guard.  
>"Who?" Kid waved for Liz and Patty to switch into gun form.<br>Death Scythe seemed to die—either by fear or what ever those people did to him. Either way, he let go of a squirming Maka and fell back on his back. "Stein and this other guy..." He scratched his head weakly. "He had this creepy smile and... a weird black and white face."  
>Toshiro swore under his breath. "Mayuri, damn you." He turned his icy eyes onto Death Scythe. "Did he actually <em>do <em>anything?"  
>Death Scythe shook his head slowly. "But he's a hell of a lot like Stein."<br>Soul shook his head. "Because the world _needs_ another creepy, sadistic scientist."


	6. Chapter 6

Hey… yeah, I'm back… "OTL I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! I'm actually on summer break now, so I'll be updating a LOT more frequently…

Anywho, kind of a serious chappy, lots of talking, pondering… Finding out secret plans for the world's destruction, that sort of thing. ;3

Anyways, Read, Review, and ENJOY!

* * *

><p>"We're not getting anywhere with this." Soul whined, sliding tiredly down the wall. "Can we just... leave him?"<p>

Maka laughed sardonically. "And get back on our own? Yeah, _that_ will go well."

"Maka's right." Kid stared seriously at Soul. Soul had _never_ liked the way Kid always seemed to be looking down on him, and right now, it was _really_ starting to rub him the wrong way. "We need Stein whether we like it or not."

"It'd help if we knew where to look..." Soul slung his arms around his neck and sighed

"Well," Toshiro began, almost hesitantly. "We could look in Mayuri's lab... but I don't like going in there, so you'll have to do it without me."

Toshiro seemed almost... _scared_. What kind of evil, sadistic force were they up against?

"It's a start," Maka mused thoughtfully. "But couldn't' I just look for his soul?"

Everybody stared at Maka in silence for a moment.

"_WHY DIDN'T YOU THINK OF THAT BEFORE?"_ The group shouted at her in unison; she chuckled awkwardly, scratching her head.

"I forgot?" Maka chewed her lip for a moment, then closed her eyes. Silently, she focused her soul on the city and it's residents. There were countless innocent souls, so many, in fact, it appeared to her to be one massive blob, rather than individual souls. Maka shook her head. She needed to look elsewhere. Her eyes travelled to the middle of the city, where stronger-much, _much_ stronger-souls clustered together. They varied in size, the smallest being only a hair larger than the average soul and the largest almost the size of the building. Maka paled. Evil intent seeped from the giant soul, filling her vision with reds. The red of war... the deep, crimson red of blood...  
>She screamed, clutching her head. The group looked at her in shock as tears streamed from her wide, wide eyes.<p>

"Maka, what's wrong?" Soul grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him, but she didn't seem to see the boy right in front of her. Her eyes were blank and unfocused.

"A soul... so big..." She tried to force out words as her eyes darted around unseeingly. "Evil... mad..."

"So she found Aizen." A new voice called from behind. Soul turned his head to see a man-or at least, someone he _assumed _to be a man-striding towards them, Stein following at his side. His skin was white, save for a black spot in the middle of his face. He wore a peculiar pointy hat that instead of pointing up, skewered the air on the side of his head. The man wore the same white coat over his kimono as Toshiro (who went pale at the sight of him).

"Who's this?" Kid nodded towards the man, looking directly at a pale Toshiro.

"Captain Mayuri." Toshiro's voice was still all business, despite the pallor the sight of his comrade. "Thank you for returning Doctor Stein."

"I was reluctant to..." Mayuri shook his head. "He's the best at dissecting I've ever seen. We performed an autopsy on a rare bird together."

"That's not the issue at hand, Mayuri." Stein pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, frowning and eyeing the trembling Maka. "Who is this Aizen and why did the sight of his soul send one of my students into shock?"

Mayuri coughed, and began to speak. "We had a captain once. Captain Aizen. Fifth Division. But for some reason he turned into a traitor and threatened to destroy the world." He shrugged as if this were a discussion on his latest findings. "We have him locked up, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Did you hear that, Maka?" Soul looked back at his quivering partner. "He's locked up. He won't hurt you."

Maka looked blankly at Soul, trying to see his face through the red clouding her vision. "But... he's talking to me..."

"What?" Toshiro snapped, unbridled fear in his eyes. "What is he saying?"

"He says he won't be locked up much longer..." Maka shivered, eyes darting around faster and faster. "He says he'll be out and will kill you all."

Silence fell on the group. Toshiro was stunned. It took them all their efforts and plenty of lives to put away that maniac, and now he's just going to get out again?

Mayuri's obnoxious laugh broke the tense silence. "I think Aizen needs a reality check." He said through guffaws. "The only way he's getting out is if he has a million Espada behind him."

"That's what he's planning," Maka scrunched her eyes shut, grimacing in pain as she tried to block out the overpowering immensity of his soul. "He's trying to get his... monsters back."

"Oh dear..." Mayuri finally seemed serious. "It appears we need to seclude our little traitor a little better."

"I guess this explains the sudden reappearance of the Arrancars." Toshiro frowned irritatedly. "But why now? It's been about a year."

"Maybe it has something to do with them." Mayuri pointed with a crooked finger at the Shibusen students. "It may be having an affect on our world that originally couldn't happen. They may be the catalysts of change in this world."

Maka opened her eyes; this time, they were focused, clear and absolutely exhausted. "Then it may be best if we can find a way back sooner, rather than later."

"About that." Stein cleared his throat. "We can use this world's 'Senkaimon' to get back. But..."

"But what?" Kid asked curiously.

"We need Madness."


	7. Chapter 7

LOOKIT THIS! TWO CHAPTERS, ONE DAY! Yes, yes, I'm awesome. I know. Lol, JUST kidding. Maybe…

This should be a little less serious than the last one… So have fun and as always, read review and ENJOY!

* * *

><p>"We need... Madness." Soul couldn't believe what was happening. Stein was looking directly at Maka when he spoke next.<p>

"I think someone needs to go mad and link their soul with the Senkaimon. That way it'll bring us back to Death City." Stein said seriously, frowning. He didn't like what he was proposing any more than the students did.

"And you want me to be the one to go mad." Maka picked up Stein's intentions, grimacing.

"I don't like it." Soul huffed; the last time Maka was insane, she chewed on Crona's head.

"Neither do I." Kid crossed his arms, silver guns shining in the sunlight. "What if we can't bring her back?"

"It's the only way," Stein said forcefully, twisting the screw in his head. It made loud clicking noises, obstructing his voice as he spoke, but the message was clear. "She's the closest, out of all of us, to madness. Surely you can feel that, Maka."

She knew it was true. Ever since they went through the Madness the first time, it's been bubbling up inside of her-it took all of her effort to just contain it. "I know." She said. Her voice was small and weak. Soul jumped in surprise.

"Maka, you can't be serious-"

"I'm perfectly serious." She looked up at her concerned partner. He was frowning with worry and anxiety; she smiled gently. "Hey, wipe that frown off your face. It's not cool."

Soul was shocked for only a brief second before he started chuckling softly. "You know, you're the coolest partner ever. Even if you are a bit flat."

Soul's head sizzled with the force of her blow, the hit with a book that magically appeared.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready, Maka?" Stein called from far, far away in the training desert. He didn't want to be anywhere close to her when she flew off the handle. They were training for her to control the madness once inside, if it was possible. Or at the very least, contain it.<p>

"Yeah!" She yelled back, gripping Soul's scythe form with tight fists. Nervousness coursed through her. What if she couldn't come back?

"Maka," Soul said rather gently for such a cool guy. "it'll be fine. I'll pull you back no matter what."

"Thanks." He always knew how to calm her. She smiled a bit.

"Okay." Stein broke up the little flirt session, bringing them back to the mission. "Maka, I want you to list off everything you hate about Black*Star."

"_HUH?"_ Maka was dumbfounded. Maybe Stein was the one going crazy, not her. "What the heck is that going to do?"

"I can start us off if you need it." Soul offered. Anything for free reign to diss Black*Star.

"No," Stein laughed. "That shouldn't be necessary." He absentmindedly twisted the screw again. "Go ahead, Miss Albarn."

She pondered it for only a moment before launching into it whole-heartedly. "He's obnoxious, has no sense of seriousness, puts Tsubaki through more trouble than he should, he's a self-centered, egotistical bastard, has a really annoying laugh-"

"That's enough, Maka." Stein sighed; if he'd let her continue, they'd be here all day. "Does he piss you off?"

"Well yeah." She was a little baffled at his question-there was no-one she'd ever met that _wasn't_ perpetually infuriated with Black*Star.

"How much?"

"Enough for me to want to slam his face into that stupid signature of his." Maka was starting to get angry. At Black*Star for just being an idiot, at Stein for asking so many questions...

"Black*Star?" Stein shouted. "You can come out now."

Black*Star stepped out from behind one of the many giant rocks dotting the fake desert. "What did you say?" His face was oddly dark, a furious grinplastered on his face. "Maybe you shouldn't get so cocky, or I'll kill ya."

"I'dlike to see you try." Maka grinned wickedly; Stein could feel the Madness inside Maka take shape, gain control.

It was simple really. His plan. It resembled what happens in the Incredible Hulk. Get her angry, watch her explode, and he'd only have to sacrifice Black*Star-which wasn't really a sacrifice. So when Maka launched herself at Black*Star, scythe pulled back to slice him in two, he grinned. So far, so good.

"Tsubaki!" Black*Star barked. "Speed star!"

"Right!" Tsubaki switched to a small blade, allowing Black*Star more mobility. He dodged Maka's scythe, quickly moving to her back side.

"You're not going to hit me with weak attacks like that," Black*Star grinned evilly, egging her on.

"Don't make it worse, Black*Star!" Tsubaki said meekly from the blade.

Maka roared with anger, the Madness becoming exponentially more tangible. She began to swing her scythe left and right, with no rhyme or reason, Black*Star speeding away from every single one.

"So this is how you guys fight."

Stein jumped. "Holy-" He composed himself again. "Don't sneak up on me, Urahara. You may just wind up dead."

"I wasn't aware I could sneak up on you." Urahara's smug grin really, really pissed Stein off. "You don't seem like the kind of person to be snuck up on."

"You know how to mask your soul's presence, don't you."

"Of course." He chuckled softly. "Can't be discovered by the enemies."

"And with you, you probably have plenty." Stein could think of at least one person who wanted this sly, irritating bastard dead.

"Oh, now that's mean." Urahara pouted like a child. "You really are a cruel one, aren't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Stein twisted the screw in his skull, pretending it was Urahara's head.

"I _mean_, using your own, poor student as the means to return." Urahara waved a fan in his face; Stein was one word away from killing this ignorant, infuriating bastard.

"That was a necessary sacrifice to return." Stein pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the fake sun's light glaring on them, making it impossible to see his eyes.

"What if you can't get her out of the Madness?" Urahara grinned. "What then?"

"If we absolutely cannot bring her back, if she becomes a danger to Death City and Lord Death," Stein paused. "I will have no choice but to kill her."

* * *

><p><strong>DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUN! With Stein's plans coming to light, what will happen in the next installment of this terrible fanfic?<strong>

**XD**


	8. Chapter 8

Hey there, Sir/Madame Reader! How's it going? Good? Kay.

Well, anywho, this chappy's kinda short, but it leads into the next part and gives you seriously important shizz. Honestly.

If you think this story's going to fast: don't. A lot happens. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. As in enough to fill a Naruto season without any fillers ;)

God, I hate Naruto… Does it show? No? KAY!

Anywhooooo, read, review, and ENJOY! (PS, I'm SOOOOOOO HYPER! :D)

* * *

><p>Sweat beaded down Black*Star's forehead. He panted tiredly as he dodged another slice by Maka's scythe. They'd been at it for an hour, with Black*Star exhausted and Maka showing no signs of slowing down.<p>

"She's a lot tougher when she's crazy." He huffed. With her swinging that scythe haphazardly, he hasn't had many openings, and even when he did, she'd just giggle madly whenever he hit her with his soul wavelength. "You think you're some kind of big star now that you're insane?'

Her only response was a mad giggle.

He was about to give up, to ask Stein to pull her out of this, when she suddenly stopped swinging Soul around like he was a baseball bat. Black*Star didn't think; he rushed in with Tsubaki aimed right for the little crazy chick's stomach. Her blood poured over his hands. Her black blood. Maka cackled as she watched her blood flow, relishing in the sight.

"Ooooo, you got me," Another evil snicker poured from her mouth. "But _TAG!" _She swung the scythe, perfectly aligned with Black*Star's neck. "_You're it!"_

The clang of metal rang through the desert, echoing off the enormous rocks lining the desert. Maka's blazing red eyes blankly focused on the black, bladeless scythe that ironically held Maka's at bay.

"That's enough, Miss Albarn." Stein said gruffly, fighting against the brute, overwhelming strength her madness gave her. "Soul, bring her back."

"Easier said than done." Soul choked out, sounding obviously strained. "C'mon, Maka. Come back."

Maka's wild, insane cackles died down after a minute or two, leaving her green eyes blank. Her face was unreadable, devoid of emotions, sane or not.  
>"Maka?" Stein asked quietly.<p>

She blinked once, then twice. "Stein? Ah," She grimaced in pain as Black*Star removed the blade from her stomach. "Ow."

"Thank goodness." Stein sighed. They'd be able to get back after all. "Orihime? You still there?"

"Mmmhmm!" A small hum of a response called from behind one of the rocks. She stepped out, orange hair and all, face stuffed with bread covered in honey. "I'm shtill hewe." Orihime said through the food.

"Heal her, please?" Stein relaxed some. They'd be able to get back as soon as Urahara finished the construction of the Senkaimon, granted Maka heals before then.

"Mmhmm." She responded cheerfully.

It was finally here, the opportunity to get back, so close, Stein could taste it. He hated to think what condition Death City was in, considering the only Death Scythe in the vicinity was here, in this bizarre other world with them and not with Lord Death as was required. Medusa really had the run of the place. But for some reason, Stein couldn't shake the feeling there was more to this than any of them could see...

* * *

><p>"Alrighty, everybody's here." Death Scythe clapped his hands together, almost nervous to see Death City after his extended absence. "Time to get back."<p>

The Shibusen students all sighed with relief; Karakura Town was great and all, but their home, where they truly belonged, was in Death City. Kidd gripped his two guns with white knuckles, Maka ran a gloved hand along Soul's blade, Black*Star grinned broadly.

"Yahoo! Time to go kick some snake ass!"

Maka nodded and smiled weakly. "Yeah. I couldn't agree more."

Stein cleared his throat, cutting off the conversation; twisting the screw, he spoke. "It's been fun, Urahara," Everyone _but_ Urahara noticed the blatant sarcasm; he just smiled like the goddamned idiot he was... "But we need to return now. Maka, if you'd be so kind."

Maka sucked in a shaky, calming breath. "On it." For the past week, Stein had been working with her to control the madness that threatened to spill out, to drown everybody in bloody red and to access it without sacrificing Black*Star every time. She closed her eyes, gripping Soul as tight as her tiny fingers would allow and thought about _it._ The Madness.

At first, there was nothing but the back of her eyelids, almost yellow in the fake sun's heady gaze. Then, slowly, it morphed into a vision of herself, eyes red and wide with the insanity that burned as bright as a wildfire, manic grin glued to her face. Maka sighed. It wasn't a pleasant sight. In her mind, she strode purposefully to her crazy self.

'_Hello again.' _The voice was a poor imitation of her own, gruff and animal like. _'Long time no see._'

'_Cut the crap,' _Maka retorted, feeling slightly cross. _'I need you again.' _

'_Clearly.' _The insane Maka spat. '_There's no other reason you'd be here. Even I know that. Can't I just play a little?'_

'_No,_' Maka said, too quickly. The crazy Maka just smiled. '_I mean, you're dangerous. You'll hurt someone.'_

_It_ smiled. _'And you think I'm not aware of this?' _It snorted. _'Fine. You may have control. But remember, I'll always be waiting, waiting for the moment when I can seize control and do what ever I please.'_

Maka shivered. She didn't like the sound of that. _'Fine. I accept those terms.'_

'_Wonderful!' _The crazy Maka clapped happily, then pulled Maka in for a hug. _'Have fun~'_

Maka opened her blazing red eyes. It was an odd sensation she'd grown almost accustomed to; having the Madness work _alongside_ her reason, that is. She pulled Soul back for a strike, one poised for the rift in space before her. The Senkaimon.


	9. Chapter 9

For my dear Himawari-no-Ichizoku, whom I f*cking love XD

Whoop! ANOTHER CHAPTER! IKR?

Yeah… This one's kinda serious, and it gets pretty serious from here on out… fair warning to you. But it's still gonna have it's amazingly awesome hilariousness moments ;D

Anyways, Read, Review and ENJOY!

* * *

><p>The sound of a blade cutting the air filled the desert. Everyone held their breath, staring at the rift between the Land of the Living and the Soul Society wavered, like water on the surface of a pool, then cracked. It spiderwebbed out, like a mirror that had, unfortunately, been broken then shattered for good, leaving black. Plain, pitch black.<p>

"It worked." Urahara breathed disbelievingly. "It really worked."

"As I thought it would," Death Scythe smiled triumphantly. "See Maka? Your dad's so cool."

"But Mr. Death Scythe," Patty giggled from her gun form. "Weren't you the one in the corner crying cuz your daughter's crazy?"

Death Scythe got real quiet after that.

"I don't believe it!" Ichigo thundered behind them; everyone turned to look at an irritated Ichigo, followed by Orihime, Rukia, Toshiro, Mayuri and Rangiku. "You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?"

"'Course not," Maka smiled, blinking away the last of the Madness. "We were just about to find you."

"_Sure_ you were." He grumped irately, then grinned. "Well, we're here now."

"Yeah," Soul switched back into his human form, grin on his face. Maybe the emotionless man wasn't so uncool after all. "See ya, bro." He stuck out his hand. Ichigo's grin widened as he gripped it.

"You know, I'm going to miss you and Rukia sleeping in the closet," Ichigo said, almost wistful. "even though it was a bit weird."

"You're leaving us?" Rangiku plodded over to Kidd, pouting full out. He nodded professionally, staying quiet. Her pout grew when she suddenly threw her arms around Kidd, smothering him with her _giant_ boobs. "Aw! I'm going to miss you!"

"Rangiku, don't kill him!" Toshiro barked; Rangiku pulled back a little bit, enough for Kidd to get some air. "I guess this is goodbye," He held out his hand to Maka. She smiled sadly.

"I guess it is." She shook his hand. "Lets hope we never see each other again under these terms."

"Amen!" Urahara pulled Maka and Toshiro into a tight hug that seemed a little... creepy, to say the least.

"Here!" Orihime presented a large basket covered with a plaid cloth. "Enough bread and honey for all of you!"

Stein took the basket gingerly. "Gee..." He worked to put a smile on his face-everyone thought it looked more like a snarl than a smile. "You really didn't need to..."

"But you have to eat to get energy!" Orihime's smile was so pure-even if a bit air-headed-that Stein bowed slightly, muttering his thanks. He had to remember to toss the basket ASAP.

"I think it's time we headed out," Maka shouted over the mingling between the two worlds, returning the focus to _returning_. "thank you for everything. Really."

"Bye!" All of the Karakura crowd shouted, waving to the retreating Shibusen students; they threw a wave back then walked straight into the Madness.

* * *

><p>This trip was a lot easier than the last; for one, they weren't falling, or being sucked in, they were just walking. In the dark.<p>

"Ow! Who poked me?" Maka shouted.

"Wasn't me, I'm over here." Kidd replied, almost amused.

"Black*Star? Was it you?" Maka's voice was dripping with suspicion.

"The Great Black*Star can poke whomever-OW!"

"The Great Black*Star is _so_ dead when we get back." Severine snickered.

"Shut up, all of you." Stein barked, annoyed beyond belief. It hadn't even been _five minutes _and the group was ready to tear at each other's throats. "We need to be _quiet._"

Silence befell the darkness. Then-

"Hey, I see light!" Severine shouted happily.

"Me too!" Maka sighed, relieved. She hadn't led everybody to their deaths after all. "There!"

The Shibusen students sprinted for it, the speck of light at the end of the darkness. It quickly grew, orangey and red when Kidd suddenly stopped, horror illuminated on his face. "Oh my God..."

Everyone else stopped, eyes searching the light for what caused him to halt. "What is it, Kidd-" Maka started, then cut off, terror on her face.

Death city was engulfed with flames.

"Oh my God!" Severine shouted, dropping Drake in panic, sprinting for the rift. Drake switched back to human form, running alongside everyone else as they broke free from the darkness and emerged into the hot light of Death City.

The city was one large campfire, burning bright the whole way through. The only thing untouched was Shibusen, which loomed in the center, ghastly in its black form.

"Medusa did this." Maka's anger seethed, almost taking hold of her. "She took over Shibusen and now is hiding there, mocking us."

"That bitch!" Severine cried, furious tears burning in her crystal blue eyes. "How _dare_ she mock us!"

"I would _never _do such a thing." A slimey, calm voice oozed from behind them; they whirled around to see a smug Medusa perched atop her broom, wicked grin plastered on that snake of a face. "I wouldn't mock you and not be there to see it."

"Medusa!" Black*Star's face was contorted with rage-an emotion unbefitting to a Great Star. "Today, you die!"

She chuckled. "I don't think so, unfortunately. I'm here to pick up a package." Her grin was positively malicious as she eyed Severine.

Drake realized, too late, what was happening as Medusa placed a Vector Plate beneath him and the others, pointing away from Severine. "NO!"

Medusa's smile was maleficent as they flew backwards, watching helplessly as she grabbed a thrashing Severine in the mouth of her giant pet snake, taking her in the direction of the former sanctuary to all weapons and meisters: Shibusen.

* * *

><p>"Damn it!" Drake pounded a fist into the cobblestone ground, barely feeling it scrape up his knuckles, barely feeling the red blood drip from his hands. "I shouldn't have left her."<p>

"There's no use saying that now." Kidd stared almost empathetically at Drake. He couldn't even imagine having Liz or Patty-or even both-dragged off to certain death. "She's gone."

"How do you know that?" Drake stood sharply, leaning his face close to Kidd's, brown eyes blazing with unbridled fury. "She could still be alive! Severine wouldn't... she wouldn't..." Drake's voice choked off-he couldn't even force out the word.

"Hey!" Maka yelled angrily; Kidd and Drake both looked at her in surprise. "Now is _not the time_ to be fighting amongst ourselves. We need to rescue her."

"But the chances..." Kidd started, but was quickly cut off by Maka.

"The chances suck, but there _is_ still a chance." She said firmly, then stalked off in the direction of Shibusen, bound and determined to save Severine even if she had to do it herself.

"Wait!" Kidd yelled after her. "I'm coming with."

"You'll need a Great Star like me, too." Black*Star grinned. "So of _course_ I'll come with."

"I can't let a student of mine be captured by a witch." Stein twisted the screw.

"Great." Maka grinned. "We're coming, Severine. Just you wait."


	10. Chapter 10

**Lil bit of a late update... sorry "OTL**

**It's kind of a short chapter, but I'm going to update again (hopefully) today...  
>IF I get enough reviews. If not, I'm updating later this week. .<strong>

**Well, as always, _Read, Review and ENJOY!__  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Severine panted in pain, clutching her bleeding stomach. "Let me out, god damn it!" She snarled weakly, throwing her weight against the metal bars or her cage. Where Medusa got a cage was beyond her, but it didn't do any good to speculate if she was stuck in one like a sitting duck. Medusa only glanced up from her crystal ball, eyes uncaring.<p>

"Vector Arrow." An arrow shot itself at Severine's shoulder; she yelped in pain and reeled away from the bars, nursing yet _another _wound.

"Shit!" She hissed at the cut on her shoulder. "You're a bitch, you know that, right?"

"I am not a female dog." Medusa didn't even look up from her cliché crystal. "I am a snake."

"No," Severine almost laughed. "You're a bitch. Meaning _you're a bitch_."

"Oh," Medusa looked up at Severine with gleaming triumph. "Looks like your friends are coming to 'save' you."

Severine paled. "No..." She clenched her eyes tight, fighting back hopeless tears. "Forget about me, guys. Please... it's a trap."

* * *

><p>"What if it's a trap?" Kidd yelled over the roaring flames, voicing what everyone knew.<p>

"We all know it is..." Maka amended. "But we can't very well just _leave_ her."

They were closing the distance between them and Shibusen, a growing sense of foreboding leaning heavily on everyone's hearts. They turned a corner, only to be face to face with two kishin blocking their path.

"Shit!" Maka shouted, ready to turn around when Kidd yelled:

"Go! Take Drake to get Severine! We've got it covered here!"

"But..." Maka shook her head. Kidd could handle things-it'd be insulting to him to say otherwise. "C'mon Drake, let's go."

They sprinted around the kishin-who made an attempt to swipe at them when a sizzling bullet hole blasted through the palm.

"Over here, ugly. I'm your opponent."

* * *

><p>"Oh, they're almost here." Medusa grinned. "Guess I should hide then."<p>

Severine, in her hazy mind, couldn't figure a place for Medusa to hide in a _courtyard_, but when she shot up in the air, Severine heard it. Drake's voice.

"... Severine!" It was still pretty faint, or maybe it was the blood loss, Severine couldn't tell. "Where are you?"

"Don't answer." Medusa's voice hissed down to her; Severine only whimpered her response. It was so cold... so very, very cold. She only wanted to sleep.

Her eyes slipped closed.

* * *

><p>"Severine!" Drake yelled again, eyes glancing around the burning buildings for any sign of his violent, forgetful partner.<p>

"Drake, stop." Maka placed a hand on his shoulder, panting. "We need to think about this for a moment. Where would Medusa have Severine?"

"Somewhere... public..." Drake pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know! I can't think..."

"Public..." Maka mused. "What's public at Shibusen?"

"Maka, up there!" Soul shouted, pulling her out of her pointless strategizing; she looked up to see a figure looming high in the sky. And even though it was dark, she knew exactly who that was.

"Lord Death, _NO!"_

Lord Death himself had placed himself in danger by coming out of the mirror. He knew that. But he couldn't sit idly by while his city was destroyed, his students tortured and a witch running around like she owned the place. It was his city. Time to take responsibility for it.

"Miss Albarn," Lord Death called down in an annoyingly high-pitched, squeaky voice. "the courtyard, if you will."

"Huh?" She blinked. "Oh, right! C'mon Drake." Maka would have to worry about Lord Death's safety later-she had a sinking feeling Severine's safety was much further in disrepair than Death's.

Lord Death clapped his oversized hands together. Time to put out the fires.

* * *

><p>Maka kicked open the gate to Shibusen, eyes scanning through the dark for Severine. "She's... not here." She clenched Soul tighter, tears stinging in her eyes.<p>

"No..." Drake's voice was almost relieved. "She is! There!" He pointed to a large metal cage on the outskirts of the courtyard, a cage that held a crumpled form, surrounded by a dark liquid.

"Oh no..." Maka took one step closer, breath coming in gasps. "She's not..."

Drake's eyes were wide. Agony ripped through him like a tidal wave; he stumbled closer, tears burning in his eyes. "Severine...?"

A low whimper escaped the cage; the crumpled figure stirred slightly, raising their head a fraction. Icy blue eyes that just looked broken stared at them, tear streaks on her dirtied and bloodied face. "Get out of here!" Severine rasped out. "Go, now!"

"I'm not leaving you." Drake said firmly, striding purposefully to the cage. "Not again."

"Please, Drake," Severine sobbed, tears flowing freely now. "Get out of here..."

He grasped at the bars of the cage, brown eyes full of determination. "No. I'm not leaving you. We're getting you out of here."

Maka was quiet. Medusa hadn't shown up yet, though she took great troubles to find a cage and throw Severine inside. Something wasn't right, and it left a twisting feeling in her gut. "I hate to say it Drake... but I think we need to leave her."

"NO!" Drake roared, brown eyes blazing with fury. "I won't leave her!"

Severine nodded mutedly. "Drake, if you value Death City, you'll forget about me." Her icy blue eyes melted with warmth. "I need you to leave."

"NO!" He grit his teeth, switching his arm into a scythe. "I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!"

He broke the bars, slicing the metal clean through. They clattered to the ground; he reached his other hand for Severine's and yanked her to her shaky feet.

"Drake..." She stared at him in shock-she'd never seen this kind of emotion from him.

"I will not..." Drake's eyes bored into Severine's. "_Leave_ the only girl I love."

* * *

><p><strong>DRAMA-BOMB! :D<strong>

**Yeah no OCxCharacter pairings here... Just OCxOC XD **

**But it becomes really important to the main characters in the upcoming chappies :3 But I'll leave you to figure out how. **


	11. Chapter 11

Definitely not as cheerful a chapter as the others... but it'll get funny after all the sad, depressing stuff. I just want some tears, bro!

But um... you'll see where this goes, and it's not happy til the next arc... Sorry... "OTL

* * *

><p>Chapter 11<p>

Severine's mouth hung wide open in pure, unadulterated shock, as did Maka's and Soul's, though you couldn't see his. Drake stared into her eyes calmly for a moment, brown eyes burning with emotion... then it dawned on him what he had just said. An awkward laugh bubbled from his throat as he trained his eyes on the ground. The cobblestone was very nice... and symmetrical...Oh look, some ants.

A small smile worked its way to Severine's face, tears stinging in her icy blue eyes. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that."

Drake's head snapped up, surprise written on his face. "What?"

She quirked a brow. "Are you stupid or something?" Severine shook her head in mock disappointment, fighting the urge to jump for joy-since in her condition it may kill her anyways. "I _said_ I've been waiting to hear that."

He seemed to ponder that a moment, then slowly his face gradually went through all stages of red. "You... knew..."

"You didn't hide it too well, lover boy."

Drake coughed, muttering something about her being silly (which if she'd heard, he'd be without a head), then recovered long enough to glance at her many, many injuries. "You're hurt!" He exclaimed in panic; Severine merely face palmed.

"Gee, no shit Sherlock, you figure that out all on your own?" She snapped irritably; clearly still her 'cheerful' self.

"Here, let me see." Maka almost laughed, despite the Death-City's-being-burned-like-bacon-and-Medusa's-still-running-around thing kinda going on; Severine nodded before sliding warily to the ground. It was a wonder where she got the energy to be sarcastic.

She lay down slowly, wincing as the movement pulled at her stomach, easily the worst of the injuries. How could she let Medusa snatch her like that? She was an upperclassman, thereby _way_ more attentive than these simpering younglings, but she still got swept away like a fish by a stupid eagle. Severine closed her eyes in shame, fighting the disgraced tears—

"OW!"

"I'm sorry!" Maka bowed slightly, trying not to look into Severine's death glare; maybe it would have been better if she _hadn't _poked the stomach wound. "But boy… that cut's deep…"

"Can you do anything?" Drake bent over Severine, who was letting out as many curse words as were known to man, staring Maka worriedly in the eye. She shook her head.

"I don't have any bandages." Maka gripped at Soul. "And even if I did, they wouldn't do any good at this point."

"I guess we gotta just get her out of here." He set his jaw and outstretched his hand; Severine ceased her swearing, face a little pink as she took his hand and stood. Maka smiled.

"You know…" Severine's face was red as her blue eyes studied the most interesting cobblestone ever. "I… um… love you… too…" The last part was more of a mumble, nearly inaudible, but Drake heard it.

First he was stunned, gaping at her with wide, chocolate brown eyes. Then, his lips spread into the largest grin Maka had ever seen—it made her overjoyed just beholding it. Severine just grinned inelegantly, still watching the ground like it was a soap opera.

Drake leaned in, pressing his lips gently to hers, still beaming and running a hand through her black and red hair; Severine looped her arms around his neck, tears of wholesome delight streaming down her face. The situation was so moving, so overpowering, Maka turned away, watching as one by one, the fires in Death City were put out and more of the stars of the clear night became visible. They shone as brightly as Drake and Severine's awkward love, as uncontaminated as white snow thrown into the night sky.

Maka looked over her shoulder, where Drake and Severine were grinning like idiots, staring happily into each other's eyes, situation completely forgotten.

"Vector Arrow."

Blood splattered everywhere, as Maka, Drake and Severine all gazed dazedly at the arrow poking through her chest, right were her heart should be. Severine looked down, frosty blue eyes appearing to freeze solid. Blood sluggishly trailed from her parted, surprised lips, dripping from her chin to the arrow protruding from her body.

Drake's eyes went wide as saucers when her arms dropped from his shoulders, head lolling down. The only thing keeping Severine upright was the snake imbedded in her.

Maka couldn't understand what just happened. Everything was fine, just fine a moment ago. Her head spun nauseatingly, stomach clenching painfully as she realized just… how much blood… was oozing from the wound, dripping onto the ground, pooling beneath Severine's bare feet, staining the hems of her jeans red.

"Severine?" Drake smiled disbelievingly, tears pouring down his face in torrents. His face collapsed into agony as he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently, as if to wake her from a brief nap. "Severine…"

A mad cackle erupted from behind Maka; they turned to see Medusa grinning wickedly, clearly pleased with the turn of events. "Well, isn't this fun?"

"Medusa…" Maka snarled weakly; she couldn't muster anything more.

"Yes, that's me." Medusa bowed sarcastically, snake eyes boring into Maka's green. "But, I've finished my errands for now." She made moves to leave, but Drake roared in rage, barreling towards her in fury. She merely looked at him with a lofty expression before smirking. "Vector Plate."

Drake shot backwards, slamming into the metal cage that once confined Severine and slumping in defeat.

"Damn it." He rested his head on his knees for only a moment before crawling woundedly to where Medusa had unceremoniously dropped Severine. Maka stared blankly at her blue, unseeing eyes, aimed at the clear, clear night sky. Drake placed two shaky fingers at the base of her neck.

Nothing.

Tears streamed down his face once more; Drake caressed Severine's cold and bloodied cheek before sliding her eyelids down.

Maka blinked. Severine was dead. She couldn't wrap her mind around it—she thought she heard Soul yelling her name, but she couldn't listen. It was like time had stopped for her, but kept going for everyone else. Drake was sobbing uncontrollably over Severine's lifeless body, but Maka… was just standing there, face blank and unreadable.

"_Stupid girl. I told you if I had the chance I'd take it."_ Maka's voice hissed in the night; Drake looked up wearily, eyes blurred with tears.

But he quickly jumped to his feet, backing away in fear. Because what he saw staring back at him was blood red eyes, burning brightly with insanity.

* * *

><p>OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SEVERINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO haha, I wrote it and I'm flipping a tit. :D<p>

Buuuuuut yah, shit gets serious here D:


	12. Chapter 12

Haha, how'd you guys like that lil drama-bomb? (I'm laughing after I killed off one of my favorite characters... I belong in a mental institution... O.o) Anyways, you guys shall find out about that in the next couple chappies...

But wow, I feel like this chapter sucks. I don't really know why... Fair warning, it skips around a bit...

Anywho! Read, review and Enjoy! (BTW, if you take the time to hit the Follow button, please, please review! I want to know what I can improve! :D)

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

"Maka…?" Drake whispered cautiously, unable to look away from Maka's blood-red eyes. "What's… wrong?"

Maka's face pulled into a grin—but it was a grotesque imitation of a smile, evil and fearsome. She casually tossed away Soul, the metal clanging on the ground and echoing around the silent courtyard. The evil Maka flexed her hand, laugh bubbling from her throat, terrifyingly malicious. "This is great. I never thought I'd be free so soon!"

"Free?" Drake struggled to grasp for the meaning of her words through the unbridled agony clouding his mind. "You're… the mad Maka… aren't you."

'Maka' let loose a horrifyingly malevolent cackle. "Maka? I'm not Maka anymore you fool." She raised her gloved hands to the sky. "I'm my own person."

"Maka!" Soul switched back into his human form, running at her in worry; he grabbed her shoulders, staring into her crimson eyes. "Maka, you've got to snap out of it!"

She shook off his grip with distaste. How dare he touch her! "I _said_," 'Maka switched her hand into a scythe, plunging it deep into Soul's stomach. Soul just looked down in surprise at her hand—a scythe, no less. "I'm not Maka!"

"Soul!" Drake yelled as the other Maka pulled her hand out brutally. She stared at the crimson dripping off the metal, eyeing it like it was a beautiful sight; Soul staggered back, holding his stomach with his arm. "Dammit Maka!"

The other Maka snarled in fury, turning her eyes to him. "I'm not Maka." She rushed at him, enraged.

"Shit!" Drake turned to run, but was faced with… Maka. How did she move so _fast_? A gloved hand wrapped around his throat, cutting off his air. He clawed at it, losing more and more strength as he felt himself slipping away.

"I'm not going to let you do this!" Soul roared, charging at Maka and ramming into her. She dropped Drake in surprise—he fell, smacking his head onto the cobblestone.

His eyes were bleary as they fell on Severine's face. It almost looked like she was sleeping. He almost laughed. They'd really come full circle, hadn't they…

* * *

><p>"Hey," Drake stood over the strange girl, wondering whether to prod her to see if she was dead or to just leave her there. He decided the former; nudging the girl with his foot, he craned his neck to see movement.<p>

Her hand snaked out in a blindingly fast motion, grabbing onto his leg. Drake tried to pull away, but she merely held on as if it were nothing to fight against a one hundred and fifty pound male. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes to reveal icy blue eyes that looked… well, pissed.

"Why were you kicking me…" The girl asked, still lying on the cobblestone of the courtyard, still holding Drake's leg in a death grip. Something about her tone made Drake rethink his smart-remark.

"You're a meister, right?" He pointed to the tag pinned to her plain white tee—the girl merely laughed.

"A weapon, huh." She let go of his leg—where she held it stung a bit, but Drake ignored it. "Let me guess, the other meisters were already taken."

Drake cracked a grin. "Nope. I just saw one lonely one lying on the ground, thought they were dead and here we are."

"Dead?" The girl laughed. She was really pretty when she laughed—even if she looked a bit eccentric. Her hair was a messy black, splayed around her like an inky puddle, tipped with red and she wore a white tee and dark blue skinny jeans. But no shoes. What the… "I'm still very much alive, thank you."

He cracked a grin and sat down next to her. She looked over at him in mild surprise but trained her eyes on the blue sky. "I see that."

"Severine." The girl said, staring unwaveringly into Drake's eyes with her icy blue. "My name's Severine."

"Drake." He grinned, laying onto the ground next to her. Silence followed for five, then ten minutes. Drake thought she was pondering saying something for a while, but when he looked back at her, he grinned. She was asleep again.

* * *

><p>"Hurry!" Kid yelled. He'd seen Medusa snaking away on her broom with a smug look on her face, and that couldn't be good. Stein nodded mutely, face serious—he had his own reasons for worrying. An explosion of madness came from where Maka and Drake were, a madness that could rival Asura's.<p>

"Hold on, Maka…"

* * *

><p>An insane cackle ripped through the burning night sky as the New Maka leapt nimbly from building to building, being sure to shatter as many shingles as possible when she landed. Being free was wonderful! She would never let anyone shut her up again. Ever.<p>

"Now all that's left is to kill Lord Death once and for all." Medusa's twisted smirk made Eruka shiver.

"How?" She questioned, frowning. Even with Lord Death away from all the Death Scythes, no witch was still able to beat him. It was a suicide mission.

"Oh, Eruka." Medusa sighed, caressing the young witch's face, twisted smile growing more gruesome with each passing second. "When will you learn. Every part of my plans has a role."

Eruka knew better than to pull away from Medusa—pulling away would anger her, and Eruka certainly didn't want to do that. Then it dawned on her. If everything in Medusa's plan had a role, what was the purpose of killing the girl? Couldn't she have been used as a hostage?

Eruka's brows furrowed. Medusa surely didn't _accidentally _kill her—that just wasn't something Medusa did. So why?

"You don't mean!" Eruka gasped. Her plan was flawless; Medusa's grin merely grew.

"But of course. My target was the result."

* * *

><p>Kid stood in shock at the massacre that lay before him—Severine lay in an enormous pool of what he assumed to be in her blood, Soul was slumped against the wall of the courtyard, head down and breath coming in short gasps, and Drake was on the ground, small puddle of blood beneath his head, breathing slowly and calmly.<p>

"We were too late." Stein pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, face set with rage. That rotten snake will pay for this that much he would swear on his life.

"We're not too late, are we?"

* * *

><p>DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN! Who's late to the party now? (Yeah, they're a little late, cuz honestly Severine freaking died guys... I'd qualify that as 'late')<p>

Find out in the next chapter of a crappy FanFic!


	13. Chapter 13

How bizarre is this? Two chappies? IN ONE DAY? WOAH THERE, HOLD THE PHONE!

Yeah, was on a bit of a roll, I guess ^^ Not that that's a bad thing.

Anyhow, tried to get back into some of the comedy you guys know and (maybe) love! However, the next couple chapters get kinda serious. Read, review and ENJOY!

_**EDIT: For the love of all that's holy, I'm tired of all the nasty ass reviews/PMs saying I don't know anything about Orihime's powers. I DO. I DON'T write fanfics until I have a firm grasp on the characters and their abilities. So yes, I DO know about her ability to reject fate. BUT I friggen needed to modify it a bit to make the story work.**_

_**So please. Stop. I DON'T need the negative reviews right now (ESPECIALLY not right now-go look at CH15 if you want to know.) I get when you have an honest idea to make the story better, but frankly, there's something called being polite about it. You don't have to make me want to cry every time you think I should change something.**_

**_Now go ahead and read._**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13<p>

Kid turned slowly, not quite believing what he was hearing. But sure enough, there they stood, in a neat little clump with expressions that varied from ecstatic to mildly frustrated. Right in front of him stood the whole Karakura gang—plus some he hadn't had the 'pleasure' to meet. There was Ichigo, Orihime, Urahara, Toshiro, Rangiku, Rukia, a busty tan woman with purple eyes and black hair pulled into a ponytail, some nerdy looking kid in rectangular glasses and a button up shirt, and a really, really buff looking man with tan skin all stood there in the gateway to his beloved school.

"It's you guys…" Kid struggled to form a coherent thought—he was still too much in shock to understand what was going on. But Stein must not have been in the same position.

"Orihime, we have some injured." He said smoothly; Kid wished he had the same calculating calm, minus the insane dissecting bit. "If you wouldn't mind."

"Of course!" Orihime chirped out happily, stepping past Stein and calling her little fairy friends to help her. She created a healing barrier around the three slumped on the ground, going hard at work to alleviate their wounds. "Wait, she…"

Stein looked away from the Karakura group, frown deep on his face—they all craned their neck to see Drake's eyes slowly flicker open and Soul's head lift enough to see his weary red eyes.

But Severine stayed still.

"Can't you do anything?" Ichigo grunted, not meeting eyes with her bright slate grey eyes. She held her gaze on him for a second before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry." Tears bubbled at her eyes; she could bring Ichigo back, but that was only because his brain cells hadn't fully died yet. It takes a few moments for the brain to stop functioning fully after death. And for Severine, it was truly too late.

* * *

><p>"Miss Albarn?" Medusa's voice carried across the night sky to the New Maka; she froze. How dare someone call her that wretched name!<p>

"Where are you?!" She snarled furiously, teeth bared like an animal.

"Up here, hun." The New Maka's Head snapped up to see a curt wave by Medusa, wry grin on her face.

"I'm not Maka, so don't call me that!" The New Maka hissed. Medusa seemed to ponder that a moment.

"Then what do you want to be called?" She smiled—Madness really was an amusing thing. The New Maka stopped, thinking.

"Call me Queen." She grinned maliciously. "'Cause now I'm in charge."

* * *

><p>"What's the situation here?" Rukia asked, still all-business, kneeling on the ground with Kid and Stein.<p>

"Well, so far, we have one casualty." Stein's face was blank; Rukia couldn't make heads nor tails on what he was feeling. "And two freshly healed. Lord Death has left the safety of his mirror, one student that's gone Mad, an insane witch running around and half the city's still on fire." He sucked in a breath. "All in all, it's gone to hell here."

Rukia nodded. "Well, we've come to help." She gestured to the Karakura group—all of whom were staring at the moon with a very disturbed look on their face—and bowed slightly to Stein. "We will do what we can."

"Well," Kid pitched in for the first time since he'd laid eyes on the slaughter that occurred here. "I would like an introduction, as there are some people I don't know."

Rukia smiled and stood. "Of course—hey!" She snapped at the entranced group; they muttered slight disagreements then shuffled over to them. "Okay, so that's Yoruichi," She pointed to the tan woman, who just grinned and waved. "Chad," Next was the buff, dark-skinned man. He just nodded as a response. "And finally, Ishida." Lastly, Rukia pointed to the scrawny kid with stark black hair and glasses. Kid sucked in a breath.

"Oh my god!" He rushed over to Ishida's side, golden eyes sparkling; Ishida just backed away subtly, let's not set off the crazies. "You are perfectly symmetrical!"

Stein facepalmed. "Is now _really _the time for that, Kidd?"

Kidd gave him a pout. "It's always a time for symmetry." He looked back at Ishida, grinning. "Why can't everyone be like you?"

"Now that you mention it, I do rather like your suit." Ishida pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, then grabbed a sleeve of Kid's suit. "It's very nicely tailored."

"Why thank you!" Kid beamed. "It had to be symmetrical."

"If you like symmetry so much, why is your hair weird like that?" Rangiku tapped her full lips with her forefinger.

"Dammit…" Liz sighed from her gun form, clenched in Kid's hand.

"I'm a disgrace…" Kid slumped to the ground. "I'm garbage, asymmetrical trash. I shouldn't be alive…"

"Okay then." Yoruichi just ignored the crying male on the ground, staring straight at Drake. "Back to business. You in?"

He nodded mutely, eyes lifeless. It was as if he was the one that died, not Severine.

"Can you transform?" She tipped her head a bit to the side; tact was not one of Yoruichi's strong suits. Drake stood without a word then switched into a scythe. The violet-eyed woman caught him swiftly, weighing him in her hands. Stein just stared at her in shock—she felt his gaze and promptly snapped at him. "What?"

"Doesn't it feel heavy? Burn you?" Stein rose, twisting the screw in his head, processing this new information with worry. She shouldn't be able to wield a weapon unless she was a meister. He sucked in a surprised breath as he glimpsed her soul.

"A cat." He twisted the screw again. "A _cat_ has a flexible soul. I've seen it all."

Yoruichi spun Drake as if he were a baton and eyed Stein cooly. "Got a problem with that?" She didn't really know what he was talking about, but it sounded vaguely offensive. He shook his head, as if to clear some unwanted thoughts.

"Well, I suppose we have a temporary meister for Drake…" He scratched his head.

Drake stayed quiet, but it felt like his heart was being ripped out. This would be his first battle without Severine, and he didn't like that one bit.

* * *

><p>You know who else is missing? BLACK*STAR!<p>

No, actually I know where he is... so he's not missing.


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, I'm gonna be honest. The only reason this is being posted is for two reasons: to apologize for my absence and CHEW A FUCKING DISRESPECTFUL WHORE OUT.

A: I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY I DIDN'T POST ANYTHING FOR SO LONG! I was having problems with my computer (IT WOULDN'T LET ME GO ON FANFICTION! D: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOO) So, I am soooo sorry guys :/

B: To the whore guest reviewer: I'm totally okay with people not liking what I write. I get that not everybody likes shitty, unreliable fanfics. But if you're going to be disrespectful, crass, crude, boorish and brainless about it I will get PISSED! If you want to read a story about Ichigo GO TO A NORMAL BLEACH FANFIC. Fact of the matter is, the Bleach arc is NEXT, and my OC's were a crucial part of the plot.

Now that that's outta my system... Okay guys, I'm sorry. I didn't wanna post an A/N chapter without giving you SOMETHING after so long, so here's the first excerpt of the next chapter... But still, I am SO sorry.

* * *

><p>Chapter 14 (PART 1)<p>

Lord Death stood calmly on a clay-shingled roof, eyes roaming over his burning hell of a city. Residents ran, screaming in terror, trying to not become kishin food. They tugged on the hands of sobbing children, looted flaming buildings or even tripped their neighbors in an attempt to slow the kishin.

He hated it.

"Like what I've done?" A familiar, reptilian voice hissed to him; Lord Death didn't turn. Instead, he curled his oversized hands into fists.

"Medusa." He said curtly, mask bearing no expression.

"Oh, Lord Death, it's been too long." She almost sung, wrapping bare, tattooed arms around Lord Death. "I really did miss you."

"I doubt that," He pulled away. "but I appreciate the sentiment. Now, if you wouldn't mind, end this madness."

Medusa let out a hysterical chuckle as she walked in front of the stubborn Lord. Her sharp, pristine features glimmered in the firelight, slim mouth pulled into a fearsome grin. "But Death, madness is wonderful, if you'd only give in…" With her hand, she beckoned something behind Lord Death. "Isn't that right, Queen?"

An insane cackle sounded from behind Lord Death; he turned apprehensively, afraid that he did, in fact, recognize that laugh, as twisted as it was. Maka—or a distorted, hollow version of her, he couldn't tell—stood before him, black scythes protruding from her slight frame. Glinting red eyes bored into the hollows of his mask, crimson that pulsated madness. "Oooo!" 'Queen,' as Medusa called her, squealed in crazy delight. "This should be fun."

"What have you done, snake?" Lord Death looked back, but the conniving witch was gone, leaving him alone with a senseless Maka.


	15. VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR

_Dear readers of WNLSR,_

_I would like to make it clear: this is NOT a new chapter, it is an author's note, and one you should read if you're a fan of this story. And I do apologize for having potentially gotten your hopes up._

_As you may have noticed, I have been MIA for the past five months. This is due to something very, very serious. For the past five months, I have been battling-almost hopelessly-with an extremely difficult bout of depression. And those of you who know the 'disease' well, you'd know that it causes a lack of interest in anything-even things you love to do. For me, it's reading, writing and drawing that are the basis of my existence. However, I haven't been able to motivate myself in any way, shape or form to do anything._

_I'm still struggling. But. It's not fair for me to hold you all in suspense without any explanation. So I hope that you all would be able to forgive me._

_On the same topic, my computer in the second month of my hiatus blue-screened on me. (Blue Screen Of Death; technical term. Not kidding.) Because of this, I had lost the drafts for the next couple chapters. I felt completely lost and couldn't bring myself to rewrite them. And now, I find myself trying to remember just where it was I was going with this story-sure, I know the plot, the different twists and arcs (yes, arcs. You'll see what I mean if I can get my butt in gear.) but I don't remember how I was going to GET to those points in the story. _

_So what does this mean? Well, there could be a chapter up in the next week/two weeks. I'll have plenty of time to write whilst on a flight to Munich._

_Again, I apologize whole-heartedly. It's not fair to you that I do this._

_Ich hoffe es klappt,_

_SharpAngels_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16 For all intents and purposes...**_

_**AN: So it took a little longer than expected (since I didn't want to force myself to write and have it turn out bad) but Chapter 16 (for all intents and purposes) is up!**_

_**Now, I know it's really choppy and terrible, but I had to set up some ideas that come to play in the next couple chapters (which WILL be up next week) so it had to be done. AND I KNOW you'll flip a tit when you see the end. But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T FRIGGEN HATE. Seriously guys, there's a REASON for it, one you DON'T know yet. So give it a couple chapters before you be all like "YOU SUCK"**_

_**And since people have been hating on the OC's, I have to pose this question: Would you rather I have killed off one of the main story characters? NO. So hush. Someone needed to die (and stay dead; I'm well aware of Orihime's true abilities. BUT DAMMIT, I needed a reason for Severine to stay down for the count. So cool your cookies.)**_

_**Oh yeah. Maka's mad name. People don't seem to like it, but I ain't got nothing better. SO if you have an idea, PM me and I might change it. Might.**_

_**Go on my minions! Read a horrible chapter! XD**_

* * *

><p>Kid summoned Beelzebub and flew on ahead of the group, gripping Liz and Patty in his hands; something didn't feel right, and it gnawed at him like a parasite.<p>

"What's up Kid?" Liz called from her gun form, sending his unease. He shook his head.

"There's something not right about all of this." Urging Beelzebub faster, he sighed. "What was the purpose behind sending us to that... other world? I mean, it couldn't have been some elaborate plan to kill Severine."

Liz hesitated for a moment. "That's a good question..." She sighed. "But not one we can answer right now. So we should focus on getting Maka back to normal."

Kid frowned. "That's another thing... what if we can't?"

* * *

><p>Lord Death looked with pity upon the Maka-imitation. Her blood red eyes held none of the kindness or determination that the once-green ones had before, and that was a shame. "I don't want to hurt you, Maka." He'd abandoned that silly voice he'd taken up to appease the children. She only began cackling madly, seeming entirely too amused with the situation.<p>

"Thaaaaaat's a shame." 'Queen' said through her fits of laughter; Lord Death curled his hands into fists. This was going to dissolve into a fight, and a messy one at that. "I want you to."

This was a dilemma; either fight her, and risk injuring Maka when-if-she returns. Or kill her.

* * *

><p>"We need to find him." Soul crossed his arms, reluctantly speaking with Stein.<p>

"Who?" Stein glanced over his glasses at the now-meisterless weapon.

"Black*Star." Soul frowned; it had been a while since they heard the trademark 'YAHOO.' That idiot better not be dead.

"Did somebody say Black*Star?" A thud of a body hitting the cobblestone rang from behind them.

"Never mind." Soul grinned as he turned to face the Great Black*Star. He was a little worse for wear, with cuts and blossoming bruises lining his skin, but the wide grin on his face showed he didn't mind them. "You look like you it hit by a truck."

Black*Star shrugged. "A great star like me can handle this much." His face went serious-an odd expression on him. "There's a lot of them."

Stein sighed, twisting the screw in his head absently. "Yes, we're well aware." He paused thoughtfully. "Black*Star, do you want to help us get Maka back?"

Fury ripped across the boy's face. "What happened?!"

Stein gave him a look to calm down; Black*Star frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, but relaxed. "For one reason or another, madness took her over. We need to snap her out of it."

Black*Star, not noticing that Stein wasn't telling him something, nodded. "I think a great star like me can do that. Leave it to Black*Star!" He turned and began running off, before stopping and grinning sheepishly. "Where is she again?"

* * *

><p>Kid paused his flying for a moment, scowling deeply. They were close to Miss Albarn now, but the closer they got, the more he could sense two entities battling-one he assumed to be Maka, and the other he recognized, but hoped he was wrong. "Father... What are you doing?"<p>

* * *

><p>Queen slashed at Lord Death with a scythed hand, cackling wildly as she did. He jumped back, gnawing his metaphorical lip-he really didn't want to hurt a student, but he knew if he didn't start attacking back, he could very well get killed.<p>

She swept her scythe hand again, barely missing his mask. "This is fuuuun!" Queen squealed in delight as she kept attacking, one after the other. The dodging game was only going to work for so long...

"Miss Albarn, please!" He dodged another of her wild attacks, hoping he could bring her back to her senses-but seeing as Medusa was completely confident in her plan, he wasn't sure it was even possible at this point.

* * *

><p>Black was all Maka could see; it suffocated her, suppressed her until she could barely even form thoughts. The only thing she could hold onto was hopelessness, the burden of living resting on her shoulders. She was alone.<p>

Alone...

Vaguely, she remembered she couldn't even control her own body anymore. Madness took over, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Nothing seemed to matter.

* * *

><p>"We need to hurry!" Stein shouted, Death Scythe gripped in his hands. Kid had returned with discouraging news; Maka and Lord Death were fighting, and knowing him, he won't attack a student, mad or not.<p>

"What's going on?" Ichigo yelled, following close on the doctor's heels. Zangetsu was gripped tightly in his hands; he sensed a lot of ridiculously strong-almost Aizen strong-enemies nearby. Just what was this place?!

"Maka's been taken over by-" Stein didn't finish his sentence. A kishin had taken him by surprise, reaching with overgrown, bloody clawed paws and slamming the doctor into a nearby building.

Stein slumped, unmoving; Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu tightened exponentially. This... monster was, by far, stronger than anything he'd ever faced.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Hey guys, got this done :) started working on the next chappie too! And as a general note, I'm actually getting tired of the nasty PMs/reviews. I appreciate that you have an opinion, but please be nice about it. I can't handle that right now. Now is NOT the time to tell me how much the story sucks, how I know nothing about the characters, etc. If you don't like it, don't read it.**_

_**As always, Read Review and Enjoy**_

* * *

><p>Chapter 17<br>The monster resembled a bear-a grotesque imitation to be sure-with matted, gross brown fur and beady, sharp red eyes. Stein sat, slouched among the rubble of what was once a wall. Ichigo was alone in this one.

"This can't be that hard..." He tried to reassure himself-it failed. But dammit, that wasn't going to stop Ichigo Kurosaki. He came here to help protect his weird new allies, and that's exactly what he was going to do.

Ichigo rushed forward, cleaver pulled back for a strike; the bear-like thing lumbered slowly towards him, yellowed teeth bared. He swung, expecting the bear to dodge or for it to just ricochet. So when the monster tried to move out of the way, he was surprised to see it move so slow, so clumsily. Was this really that high-powered monster he had sensed before?

The cleaver grazed the bear's side, drawing out a black liquid Ichigo assumed to be blood. It roared in pain, retaliating with a blind swipe with an oversize claw. Ichigo flashstepped to the side, parrying the attack with Zangetsu. The bear growled in frustration before swiping one after the other, Ichigo deftly dodging each one. This thing was annoying, not strong.

"What taking you so long?" Gunfire shot past Ichigo; he spun to see Death the Kid grinning behind him, dual pistol smoking. The bear fell to the cobblestone ground with a tremendous shudder before dissolving into a red orb. Kid frowned. "What the, a level one Kishin?"

"A what now?" Ichigo grunted, scratching his head. What the hell was a Kishin?

Kid's frown grew, as did his confusion. He had sensed a strong Kishin egg over here, and it turned out to be a level one?

"I suspected as much." Stein gasped out from his rubble pile before slowly getting up, twisting the screw in his head thoughtfully. He grimaced a bit as he stretched. "I didn't even sense the bastard."

"Pardon, professor," Kid coughed, putting on official airs. "But how did _you_ not sense it? You're one of the best with these kinds of things."

Stein mused quietly, trying to find the right explanation. "To put it simply, the inter-dimensional travel with madness seems to have affected all of our sixth senses."

Ichigo pondered that a moment. "So that's why you guys freaked out at the hollow."

The doctor nodded. "But now, not only are our sixth senses basically unusable, so are yours."

"Could that have been the reason Medusa sent us all through the Madness?" Kid asked, frowning deeper now. There was still something bothering him about all this, but he couldn't place it. Stein shrugged.

"Who knows but the snake herself?"

Ichigo crossed his arms. "So we're sitting ducks."

* * *

><p>Always being on the defensive was taking its toll on Lord Death; he was tiring, and fast, while Queen just kept going, kept attacking without fail or fatigue. So far she hasn't landed a blow, but with his movements slowing his options were quickly disappearing. She swung at him, scythed hand barely missing his abdomen.<p>

As more time passed Lord Death was coming upon a grim reality: if he didn't kill her, she would most certainly kill him.

He turned, preparing to flee the battle-a coward's choice, but one he was willing to make to sae the life of a student. If only he could find Death Scythe...

* * *

><p>"Was splitting up really the best idea?" Yoruichi grumbled darkly, glowering up at the smoldering Death City. Rukia frowned, eyes on Orhime, Ishida and Chad. It wasn't the best idea, to be sure, but the creepy doctor insisted.<p>

_"It's dangerous to travel in large groups right now." He had said. "If we split up, Medusa will have a harder time tracking our movements. The only advantage we can have in this fight is surprise."_

_"We don't know where we're going." Ishida grimaced darkly; Stein merely shrugged._

_"Drake does. We need to get to the center of the city," He said, turning to Drake-who was still in his scythe form, not saying anything. "That's where I believe Lord Death and Maka are."_

_"Okay." Drake finally said, voice emotionless. Stein almost felt sorry for the young weapon-almost. They didn't have time for him to feel sorry for himself, they had to find Lord Death and fast._

_"Take the back road." The doctor pointed to the left, using his other hand to twist the screw in his head. "That way we'll have a reserve force if we manage to catch up to them."_

_"If?" Yoruichi frowned. "Not if. When."_

"Are we going the right way?" Rukia asked the scythe inquisitively.

"Yeah," was the only response.

Rukia could feel her impatience with the weapon growing rapidly; yes, his partner was dead, but there were bigger things to worry about than his self pity.

They walked in silence for a few moments, only the sound of fires crackling and blood curdling screams dying off in the distance surrounding them. It bugged Rukia to hear so many people suffering, but somewhere in her heart she knew there wasn't anything she could do for them besides ending the conflict once and for all.

She could only imagine what it was like for the Shibusen students she'd come to know; watching their home slowly burn, watching the people that they know and care for flee in terror... it had to be hard on them.

But they focused on the mission at hand: save their Lord Death (that name made Rukia squirm a bit) and stop Medusa once and for all.

At least, most were focused on the mission...

* * *

><p><em><strong>Well all I can say now is... no, it's NOT Drake. (You'll be surprised :3)<strong>_


	18. AUTHORS NOTE: PLEASE READ

**Hey guys. So, sixteen chapters and a couple years later... I'm putting this story way on hold. To be frank, I just don't love this story the way I used to-maybe that's due to the fact that I've basically come to hate Bleach (you lost me when Orihime basically got god-mod powers), I don't really know.**

**All I know is that its not fair to keep you guys waiting for something that's not going to come.**

**Okay, well, it's not all bad news. I have some _good_ news. Instead of writing this story, I'm going to _draw _it. Ya hear? Yes. Draw it. Your least favorite story will be, essentially, a fan-manga. (Is that a thing? If its not, it is now.)**

**So, yeah. I actually started work on the first page today. If this _does_ become a thing, then expect a page either every week or every month.**

**Depends on school, I guess.**

**So, a few questions (you don't have to review, a PM will suffice)**

**1. Would you prefer it to be in color? Bear in mind that if you say yes, pages will take much longer to create.**

**2. Where would you like me to post these? I have a dA, a tumblr, a pixiv (for obvious reasons, I will not post to pixiv. I can't read Japanese.)**

**3. Is there anything you'd like me to change about the story before I really get into this? (_NO,_ I will not take out the OC's. Like it or not, they have to stay, unless you want one of the main characters to die. Which I'm fairly certain you don't want.) (And fuck Orihime's powers, I'm toning them down. Because GOD DAMN they are ridiculous.)**

**4. Any questions?**

**All right, that's all I've got. Sorry about this guys. I have more passion for drawing than I do writing now, so I want to do something I enjoy, and still get you guys a story.**

**See you in the fan-manga~**

**-SharpAngels**

**(If you want updates for this whole project, there'll probably be some on my dA [same username] and I'm not trying to whore out my account or anything lame like that, but that's likely where stuff will be.])**


End file.
